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CHAIRMAN TRI-STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
SECRETARY NORTH DAKOTA FLOOD CONTROL ASSOCIATION. 




HERBERT A. HARD 

NORTH DAKOTA DRAINAGE-FLOOD CONTROL 
COMMISSIONER AND ENGINEER 


PHONE 4108 


FARGO, N. D. 



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their discharge into the Red until its own flood stage is past. 

















The First Biennial Report 

of the 

NORTH DAKOTA DRAINAGE <w 
FLOOD CONTROL COMMISSION 

to the 

* 

Governor and the State Legislature 



by 

HERBERT A. HARD 

Commissioner and Engineer 


Administrative Report and Accompanying Papers. 











n„ of w. 

MAY & ]920 
































TABLE OF CONTENTS 


s* 




Page 

Letter of transmittal . 1 

Commissioners . 2 

Sketch Map of Red River Watershed .20 

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT. By Herbert A. Hard. 

Federal Aid Secured: 

Department of Agriculture Cooperates . 3 


War Department and State Cooperate. I 

Interior Department Cooperates . 6 

Manitoba Will Cooperate . (? 

Concurrent Resolution Proposed 

Mouse River Valley Cooperates . 7 

County Aid Secured . 7 

Commercial Clubs . Aid . 8 

Field Work . 8 

Dayton, Ohio, Projects Visited .:. 8 

Conclusions: 

Need of Control . 8 

Cost of a Ten Year Program . 9 

Legislation Recommended .10 

For Flood Control 

To Improve County Drainage Work .11 

Appointment of Engineer and Commission .12 

Appropriation for Engineering Work, 

General Survey .._.12 

Investigation of Foundations .14 

Soil Analysis . 34 

Run-off Determinations . 14 


Minnesota “Drainage District” Law Recommended for North 

Dakota .17 

Early Surveys .18 

PROJECTS FOR FLOOD CONTROL IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY. ..21 
Sheyenne River Projects 

Ransom County Sites .22 

Barnes County Projects .22 

Griggs and Nelson counties.23 

Eddy, Benson and Wells counties .23 

Harvey Reservoir Site .28 

Wild Rice River, Lake Tewaukon . .27 

Pembina River .28 

Lake Traverse Project .31 

Engineering Work Practically Done. 

Lake, Reservoir and Dam Dimensions. 

Vast Relief Offered Richland, Traverse and Roberts counties... .32 
Relation to Big Stone Lake and Minnesota Valley.33 

Drainage Diversion: 

Lake Traverse .34 

Upper Clearwater, Glacial Outlet to Minnesota River.34 

Glacial Sheyenne and Lake Souris Outlet ..34 

TYPES OF RESERVOIRS RECOMMENDED: 

Puddled Clay Cored Earthen Dam .37 

Principle of Puddle Core Dam .:.37 

Size of Dams .39 

„ f 









































Two types of reservoirs .40 

Detention 

Permanent 

FLOODS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY: 

Source of the Red River .41 

Area of the Red Valley.41 

Origin of the Level Red River Floor .41 

No Trunk Drainage . 43 

Altitudes . 43 

Gradient .43 

How Flooding Causes Alkali.41 

Rain Fall and Run-off .44 

Table of Drainage Areas, Flow and Run-off of Rivers .45 

Early Floods of the Red River Valley.45 

Causes of Floods in the Red River Valley.46 

Tile Drainage . 47 

Two kinds of Flooding .47 

WATER POWER: 

Early Mill Dams on the Sheyenne.49 

Lisbon Mill Company Dam .51 

Fort Ransom Dam and Mill .54 

Dailey Dam .54 

Walhalla Dams and Mills .54 

French and English Pioneers . 54 

Majer Mill and Dam .57 


i 
























LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Northern Pacific R. R. Bridge, flood of 1897 .(Frontispiece) 

Red River Channel .(Frontispiece) 

North Dakota Flood Control Commissioners . 2 

Flood Scenes About Island Park, Fargo, 1897 (4 views) .10, 20, 35 

Fargo Auditorium in Flood of 1916 .15 

Fargo College and Athletic Field, Flood of 1916 .16 

Sketch Map of Red River Valley, indicating some reservoir sites.21 

Cross Section Diagram of Sheyenne Valley .21 

Sheyenne River and Gorge at High Line Bridge, Valley City, N. D. 

(4 views) .22, 24 

Sheyenne River and Valley in Benson County N. Dak., (two views)... .24 

Sheyenne River and Valley at People’s Grove, Eddy County .25 

Reservoir at Harvey, North Dakota .26 

Pembina River and Gorge .;.29 

Spring Flood on Pemtjina .30-48 

Ice Gorge on Pembina at Walhalla, 1903 .31 

Boats on Red River at Grand Forks (tw T o views) .36, 64 

Schematic Cross-section of Puddled-clay Core Earth Dam .38 

Flood at Grand Forks .42 

Dam on Red River at Fargo .44 

Walhalla Milling Co. dam, summer 1907 .4S 

Russel-Miller Co., Mill and Dam at Valley City.50 

Bemmels Milling Co., Mill and Sheyenne River at Lisbon .51 

Dam and Sheyenne Valley, Kathryn, N. D.53 

Marsh Dam Site, Six Miles South of Valley City.53 

Walker Dam, Dailey, N. D.55 

Wisner Dam Site . 56 

Plant of Walhalla Milling Co.58 

Walhalla Milling Co. Dam, winter 1907, .:.58 

Old Trading Post, Walhalla, N. D., .59 

Crookston Electric Plant and Dam (two views) .60 

Crookston Electric Plant, inside view .61 

Maple Creek near Alice .61 

Alfalfa on irrigated River Bottom in North Dakota .62 

Old Dam, Yegan farm Apple Creek .62 

Concrete Dam on Yegan farm, Apple Creek, N. D.63 

Irrigated Celery .63 

“The End” .. .*..65 






































Letter of Transmittal 


Hon. Lynn J. Frazier, Governor of North Dakota, and the Members of the 
State Legislature: 

Gentlemen: I have the honor to present to you the First Biennial 
Report of the North Dakota State Drainage and Flood Control Commis¬ 
sion, for the years 1917-18. 

In my administrative report you will find account of my field investi¬ 
gations as engineer on the commission, and of the federal and county 
assistance which we have been able to secure. 

President Sorlie has authorized me to prepare this report for you, but 
I must apologize to you for the lateness of completion, which is due to 
the influenza epidemic of which the writer was a victim for some weeks. 

As the commission’s appropriation was entirely spent in the field, this 
report has been prepared solely at the expense of the writer. 

A fair idea of the demand for the printed report of this commission is 
shown in the multitude of requests for it. As it must become the basis 
of all further work as well as of legislation, it is recommended that it 
be published with the numerous illustrations, which the writer has do¬ 
nated, at the earliest possible date. 

Very respectfully, 

HERBERT A. HARD, 

Commissioner and Engineer 


Fargo, North Dakota. 


COMMISSIONERS 


A. G. SORLIE, Grand Forks, HERBERT A. HARD, Fargo, 

Chairman - Engineer and Secretary 

I. W. STREETER, Wahpeton 



. * 



Administrative Report 

of the 

First Biennial Report 

of the 

North Dakota Drainage and Flood Control Commission 

Written by 

Herbert A. Hard 

Commissioner and Engineer 
At the direction of the Commission 

JL 

The act of 1917 creating the North Dakota Drainage and Floor Control 
Commission, authorized this Commission to devise and report to the leg¬ 
islature of 1919 a plan for relieving the disastrous floods of the Red 
River Valley, which have repeatedly cost the loss of millions of dollars 
in crops. 

As the appropriation was only sufficient to make a preliminary sur¬ 
vey, the Commission on organizing decided to cast about for federal and 
other outside aid. To this end it was decided that Messrs. Sorlie and 
Streeter should seek to interest the War Department in reclamation work 
in the Red River Valley, while the writer sought to secure the aid of the 
U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

To this end Messrs. Sorlie and Streeter visited Washington early in 
1917, making a consistent plea for aid from both the Department of War 
and from Congress. This had its influence no doubt in securing the ap¬ 
propriation in August 1917. 

With what success the writer met in dealing with the Department of 
Agriculture, the Department of Interior, and also in finally getting the 
application of the congressional appropriation for the War Department 
is shown in the following report of his office of engineer, which the Com¬ 
mission asked him to present to the legislature. 

WORK OP THE COMMISSION ENGINEER 

The work of the engineer of the North Dakota Drainage Commission 
for the years 1917-18 has consisted of: — 

FEDERAL AID SECURED 
Department of Agriculture Cooperates 

Through the interest of Hon. Carl Vrooman, Assistant Secretary of 
Agriculture, $8000 in work by his department engineers was secured for 
the Red River Valley. Three Department of Agriculture engineers under 
Chief C. H. McCrory, with P. T. Simons in charge in the field, are mak- 


4 


REPORT OP FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


ing a comprehensive survey in preparation to control the floods of the 
Red River Valley. The writer went to Washington in May, 1918, to se¬ 
cure this assistance. 

War Department and State Cooperate 

The Governors of North Dakota and South Dakota aided in securing 
$25,000 by meeting the terms of the act of Congress, Aug. 1917, appro¬ 
priating that sum for the War Department to conduct engineering work 
in the Red River Valley. A trip was made to Washington May 1918, and 
the matter gone over with Chief War Engineer Col. Newcommer. Both 
Col. Newcommer and Secretary Vrooman felt the emergency in the Red 
River Valley sufficiently important to warrant pushing remedial meas¬ 
ures even in time of war. 

The act of Congress required that at least two of the three governors 
request the Secretary of War to act. Gov. Burnquist delayed decision 
for several months, then refused to act. Governors Frazier and Norbeck 
signed a joint request in October, with the result that Major Freeman 
called a conference of the governors and their state drainage engineers 
Nov. 15. After a full hearing, Maj. Freeman ruled that the three states, 
in order to get the $25,000, must first prepare plans for all flood control 
projects in each state, with the approval of the same by the respective 
State Drainage Engineers and present them for his approval. The plans 
required are of such detail as to require a special appropriation by each 
state, to be applied in addition to the work of the writer and of the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture. Probably about $15000 each. This would be 
good business, as the states will thus get $25000 from the government. 

In reply to a request for formal statement of his ruling, Major Free¬ 
man replies and quotes as follows from his report to his chief in Wash¬ 
ington:— 

WAR DEPARTMENT, UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE 
516 BREMER ARCADE BLDG., ST. PAUL, MINN. 

Dec. 17, 1918. 

Mr. Herbert A. Hard. 

Drainage-Flood Control Commissioner and Engineer, 

Fargo, N. Dak. 

Dear Mr. Hard: 

Answering the inquiries embodied in your letter of the 14th inst., I 
would state as follows: 

1. “Just who in each state is to submit, and o. k. the project plans.”— 
At the conference held in this office on November 15th, I thought that 
matter was distinctly and clearly understood by all present. In my re¬ 
port of the conference to the Chief of Engineers, I stated as follows: 
“Finally it was agreed by all that a project embracing the whole valley 
and its tributaries would be prepared and submitted to the War De¬ 
partment through this office. Any local interest or section would be al¬ 
lowed to submit for approval and plans for their particular project pro¬ 
vided this project had been agreed upon by any two states and received 
the endorsement of the Drainage Engineers of the three states that this 




STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


5 


particular project was part of and in accord with the general plan." 
This implies that the project as a whole must first receive the o. k. of the 
Drainage Engineers of the three states, and was so intended. 

2. "Kindly roughly outline the extent of the work, etc."—In my opin¬ 
ion, some system of reservoirs and storage basins should be devised in 
order to hold back the excessive supply of water and prevent it reaching 
the river at all times during flood seasons (for then the channel is filled 
to capacity) and be able to release it later in the season after the flood 
has passed. The subject is one of magnitude and will require a great 
deal of study, and should be considered as a whole. As an illustration,— 
from information you possess or will obtain as an engineer, you decide 
that reservoirs are necessary at Red Lake, headwaters of the Sheyenne 
River and that storage basins should be built at some points; the same 
with Lake Traverse and the Ottertail River basin. From data in your 
possession, which includes maps and rainfall records, you decide on the 
size of these reservoirs or storage basins. Outlines of these should be 
shown on a map of the whole valley, indicating thereon the controlling 
works and general extent of the dams and the materials of which they 
are to be constructed. This map is also to be accompanied by a general 
description of the work and reasons for the locations of the dams, an 
approximate estimate of the cost, and who in your judgment should pay 
for this improvement. You need not go into details of the dam,—that is, 
as to their height, dimensions, foundations, etc.,—nor show in detail their 
controlling works. These matters, as I understand the act, will be taken 
up by this office and approved or disapproved; also, this office deter¬ 
mines the feasibility and practicability of such a project. In a sense, this 
is an outline plan, but in no sense is it a rough one. I am very sure that 
in my conversation with Mr. Kaercher the word “rough" plan was never 
mentioned by me. I did state, as near‘as I could over the telephone, 
that what I wanted was an outline plan showing in general what was in¬ 
tended but that he need not go into minor details, the same as I have 
tried to illustrate to you in answering this question. 

This subject is one of the greatest engineering feats in the Northwest 
and it should not be treated by you people in a light and off-hand man¬ 
ner. It will require a great deal of study and investigation in order to 
make a feasible and practical plan. As for intimating or estimating how 
much money is necessary for you to spend in this investigation, I am un¬ 
able to state. Your position as Drainage Engineer should give you more 
knowledge on that subject than I have or can give . 

Hoping that I have answered the questions in a satisfactory manner 
and that you will not hesitate to call on me if there is any other infor¬ 
mation on the subject, that I can give, I remain, 

Very respectfully, 

(Signed) GEO. W. FREEMAN, 

District Engineer 



6 


REPORT OP FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


Interior Department Co-operates 

As late as November it came to the attention of the writer that the 
Department of Interior had funds available for use in surveying lands 
for soldiers returning from Europe. It was decided to apply some of 
these funds in surveying reservoir sites on the tributaries of the Red 
River, with the same idea held by the Department of War and Agricul¬ 
ture and the writer that they would effectively protect the low lands 
from flooding. 

To this end the writer conceived the desirability of entering into co¬ 
operation with the Interior Department, taking the matter up with Di¬ 
rector A. P. Davis of the U. S. Reclamation Service. In due time cordial 
response, with agreement to co-operate in working out plans for the 
White Rock dam at the north end of Lake Traverse were received. A 
reservoir at this point meets the approval of three federal departments 
as a means of flood prevention, and it is very significant that there is 
general unanimity on all sides with the plan of controlling floods by 
means of reservoirs at various points, in the valley. 

Manitoba Will Co-operate 

As the Red River must empty its floods thru Manitoba, making their 
control an international matter, it was felt that the Canadian govern¬ 
ment would wish to cooperate with the states. 

Accordingly, the writer took the question up with the provincial au¬ 
thorities at Winnipeg with the result that cooperative relations have been 
opened in a satisfactory way. 

At the joint conference in St. Paul in February, 1917, representatives 
from Winnipeg also expressed a desire to work out the great problems 
with the states. 

It is hereby recommended that the coming legislative assembly pass 
a joint resolution requesting the Canadian parliament to both fully co¬ 
operate with the states in flood control measures, and to make liberal 
appropriations to prosecute their part in them. 

Just as the state of North Dakota may be expected to assist in build¬ 
ing a dam just across the line at White Rock, S. Dak., to protect its 
farms from a river flowing in both states, so may Manitoba be expected 
to assist in building a dam, if it may be found feasible to do so, on the 
Pembina, a river which arises in the province, flows thru North Dakota 
and then pours its water back into Canada by the Red River. 

It is believed that a “concurrent resolution” along the lines of the fol¬ 
lowing draft will meet good response in Manitoba and it is hereby rec¬ 
ommended that it be passed by the Assembly, and copy Sent to Manitoba 
officials and to the parliament at Ottawa. 

A Concurrent Resolution 

• \ % 

Whereas, the state of North Dakota has, in common with the province 
of Manitoba, grave and extensive problems in the Red River Valley relat¬ 
ing to the control of floods and drainage, and 

Whereas the average annual loss in the last ten years is estimated 
at six millions of dollars in the states of North Dakota and Minnesota, 
and a proportionate amount in the province of Manitoba, and 



STATE OP NORTH DAKOTA 


7 


Whereas the loss thru late seeding and actual inundation in the 
states was in excess of 10 millions dollars in the year 1916 alone, and 

Whereas the conditions are such as to warrant the conviction that the 
conditions will become worse thru repeated floodings, and 

Whereas, the federal government of the United States has manifested 
a determination to assist in relieving the conditions thru its Depart¬ 
ments of War, Agriculture and Interior, and 

Whereas, the state of North Dakota has established a state Commis¬ 
sion and made appropriations to prosecute flood control work in cooper¬ 
ation with the above Departments and the provinces of Canada, 

Therefore Be It Resolved by the Senate of the state of North Dakota 
and the House concurring, 

That we earnestly solicit the parliament of Canada to immediately pas - 
like measures. 

Be it further resolved that said parliaments be memorialized to au¬ 
thorize their existing Commissions and Engineers to arrange a joint 
conference with like officials in North Dakota, and clothe them with 
authority to cooperate in a mutual effort to relieve the disastrous con¬ 
ditions in the Red River Valley. 

Be it further resolved, that the Secretary of State be instructed to 
send copy ofthese resolutions to both the corresponding provincial 
officials and to the provincial parliaments, and to the provincial En¬ 
gineer. 

Mouse River Valley Co-operates - 

Through efficient conduct of the North Dakota Flood Control Associa¬ 
tion by its president, Mr. O. E. Blanding, Harvey, N. Dak., co-operation 
was established with the Mouse River country. This office was asked to 
assist in working out means for solving the big problems of draining 
and flooding artificially the Mouse River valley. An enormous acreage 
can here be made intensely productive by the expenditure of a very mod¬ 
erate sum. 

County Aid Secured 

Active co-operation and financial aid has been secured from many of 
the County Boards and town Commercial Clubs throughout the Red 
River Valley, approximately $5000 having thus been secured for use by 
state and federal engineers in extending the work barely started by the 
$3000 appropriated by the 1916 legislature. Six North Dakota counties, 
Richland, Ransom, Trail, Eddy and Wells have appropriated $300 each 
to this work, while Cass raised its proportion by popular subscription 
rather than lose the benefit of the federal offer. In Minnesota every 
county next to the Red River appropriated and several in the second 

row. 

The offer of the Department of Agriculture required that $3000 of this 
be turned over to its engineers in return for its larger contribution to 
the relief of the valley. The writer personally presented the flood con¬ 
trol matter and the federal offer to all but two of the county boards in 
regular session to secure their co-operation, and wishes at this time to 



8 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


especially thank them for their broad-minded spirit and hearty co-opera¬ 
tion. 

Special credit is due Sect. C. H. Zealand and the other officers of the 
Minnesota Red River Valley Development Association, and to Hon. O. 
C. Neuman of the executive committee of the new Tri-State Flood Con¬ 
trol Association for their active co-operation in interesting the Minnesota 
counties in the great work. 

Commercial Clubs Aid 

The Commercial Clubs of Lisbon, Harvey, Walhalla, Sheyenne, Valley 
City, Milnor, Pekin, Fairmount, Crookston, Cavalier and business men 
and farmers generally have taken great interest in the work, contribut¬ 
ing much of the livery for local work. Much individual credit is due 
Sen. Walter Welford Neche, Andrew Robbie, Cavalier; A. D. Knudson, 
Walhalla; A. G. Bemmels and C. G. Mead ,Lisbon; O. E. Blanding, Harvey, 
President of the North Dakota Flood Control Association, Mayor I. G. 
Moe and Gen. Amasa Peake, Valley City; Halvor Halvorsen and G. 
Christianson, Sheyenne; E. C. Brekken, Pekin; K. L. Taylor, Milnor; 
Jonas Anderson, Ft. Ransom and G. E. Ballard, Fairmount; Geo. Bur- 
field, Shevlin, Minn., and J. E. Dodds, Wheaton, Minn. 

Field Work 

The writer has spent two seasons in the field making a preliminary 
examination and survey of the channels and valleys of the Red and of 
its tributaries the Sheyenne, Wild Rice, Pembina, Tongue, etc., in North 
Dakota, the upper Clearwater in Minnesota and of Lake Traverse, ac¬ 
count of which appears in another part of the book. 

A large amount of data was amassed from which preliminary con¬ 
clusions have been drawn as to the practicability of definite means of 
control of the floods of the Red River Valley. 

Dayton, Ohio, Projects Visited 

In may, 1918, a visit was made to Dayton, Ohio, to study the gigantic 
flood control projects now being built in the Miami valley to protect it 
against a recurrence of the flood disaster of 1913. Here five high dams 
with controlling works are being built to detain the waters, at an ex¬ 
penditure of about $25,000,000. Parallel was drawn with conditions in 
the Red valley, and application made so far as possible. So valuable are 
the results being obtained there that North Dakota should have an engi¬ 
neer visit Dayton every few months to gain data for use in the Red val¬ 
ley. 

In March a personal examination was made at the authors expense, of 
reclamation work in Louisiana. 

Conclusions 

The following conclusions are based on both the writers field work 
and on a study of the state and federal records of surveys, rainfall, run¬ 
off, crop yields and losses, etc.: — 

NEED OF CONTROL 

An annual loss, from waterlogging or actual flooding of farm lands, 
and of basements in cities in the Red valley, averaging in the three years 




HERBERT A. HARD, 

Fargo, Commissioner and Engineer 














A. G. SORLIE, 
Grand Forks, Chairman 




STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


9 


1915-17 over $15,000,000 can be, and is readily preventable by means of 
perfectly feasible flood control projects. 

These floods are not only likely to recur again, but, owing to the con¬ 
stant increase in the number of large ditches and canals in the valley, 
are likely to become more destructive in the future. 

The most striking thing in the economic side of the following proposed 
plan of control lies in the fact that projects fully capable of preventing 
flood recurrence can be constructed at an expenditure of not to exceed 
the amount of actual average annual crop loss in the valley in the three 
years stated; certainly not to exceed the loss in 1916, conservatively 
placed at $20,000,000. 

It would therefore be the height of folly to permit the hazard of re¬ 
curring floods, running into an annual loss equal to the cost expenditure 
necessary to prevent them for all time. Sooner or later this work must 
and will be done anyway. Nearby Iowa and southern Minnesota lands 
are valued at $250 to $300 per acre where well drained. With superior 
soil quality there is no doubt but that Red River farms will equal this 
valuation just as soon as adequate drainage and control of flood waters 
from the higher counties can make crop failure an impossibility—which 
it certainly can do. 

COST OF A TEN YEAR PROGRAM 

While the cost of all necessary projects is about $20,000,000, half of 
this will fall to Minnesota, and North Dakota’s share should be spread 
over a period, say of ten years, making the burden light enough to be 
readily bourn. Definite unit projects should be laid 'out and assumed 
and financed each biennial period. 

After mature deliberation, taking into account not only the losses from 
future floods and the gain to be had by sane prevention measures, but 
also the many other pressing legitimate economic features of the pres¬ 
ent state administration program, the State Commission respectfully 
urges that in all justice to the welfare of the state a start should be 
made this yeaj* not only in the big engineering program, but also in 
reservoir construction and channel improvement. 

Direct appropriation should be made for the engineering work in order 
to at once secure the several federal funds. Construction should be 
met by issue of bonds either by the state or by districts, later to be 
organized, or by both jointly. Again the Red River Valley is truly en¬ 
titled to federal aid in construction by congressional appropriation. 
One of the most important tasks of the future Commission lies in a 
definite, presistent effort to secure this appropriation. Congressmen 
from the three interested states must unite every pound of strength to 
compass this. i 

Sixteen counties in the valley of the Red River hnd of its tributaries, 
and five counties in the Mouse River valley have vital problems of drain¬ 
age, flood control and irrigation. On the other hand the west half of the 
state has inexhaustable wealth of lingite coal which has never yet been 
touched. Its development is an economic necessity to the west half of 
the state and to the welfare of the Northwest. The east end of the State 





10 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


has no direct interest in lignite development; the west end no interest in 
flood control. Narrow minded men have said that neither section will 
agree to the states financial backing being given to the other. This 
should not, and doubtless is not true in the light of the new progressive, 
live and let live spirit that has recently prevaded the state. By a broad 
minded community of interest spirit, the two sections of the state will 
get together and mutually assist one another in the development of 
lignite and in control of floods. Joint laws should be enacted to this 
end at once. 


Legislation Recommended 

The Biennial Appropriations for relieving the farmers of the Red val¬ 
ley should be along two lines: 

First, for engineering work. 

Second, for reservoir construction. 

For engineering work, not only enough should be appropriated to bare¬ 
ly secure the little fund of $25,000 which the War Department can give 
for a small beginning, but also enough to apply on a broad, well con¬ 
ceived plan for the next ten years work of construction. 

In this connection the important problems of the Mouse River, actually 
a tributary of the Red, should be taken care of so far as the services of 
a supervising state office are concerned. While this will not be a large 
additional burden, it should be included. 

To this end, and in order to economically prosecute the state’s drainage 
and flood control work as do most other states with well worked out 
plans, it is hereby recommended that the office of State Drainage Engi¬ 
neer, or similar office be established, the duty of which it shall be to 
make proper surveys and plans for all major control and drainage work 
and projects. 

In planning any large control project, the legislature must bear it in 
mind that the engineering work falls into two classes: (1) General 

work for the whole plan, which must in part be done in advance of the 
construction. (2) Final elaborate detail plans for each dam, canal, 
etc. 

It should be emphasized that federal officials agree with the State 
Commission that it is not only unnecessary but bad policy to delay con¬ 
struction on those headwater projects which are first completed by the 
engineers, until each and every detailed plan down the valley is worked 
out. To do this will needlessly put red tape in the way of remedial 
measures in the manner of the last 30 years experience. 

The cost of this engineering work alone would at this time discourage 
many legislators but for the fact that possibly $100,000 worth of it has 
already been done by the state in the last two years, and especially by 
the War and Interior Departments in the last 30 years. Even yet much 
new work remains to be done. Most of the past work, like county drain¬ 
age work, has been more or less piecemeal, and disconnected and is be¬ 
ing in part correlated by the Department of Agriculture engineers. 




STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


11 


TO IMPROVE EXISTING COUNTY DRAINAGE WORK 

The office of “State Drainage Engineer” should function in a way to 
perfect our rather incomplete county drainage work. Not that the pros¬ 
pective duties should interfere with the present county system, but rather 
it should supplement it in those points generally admitted by the farmers 
and county surveyor to be lacking. The office will chiefly act to afford 
a higher consulting authority, long since become a crying necessity in 
every county. 

Some counties have a competent drainage engineer, but most of them 
naturally could not afford to employ more than a good county surveyor 
with duty to lay out ordinary ditches. In almost every county from time 
to time arises a real engineering problem which the county surveyor, 
if there is one at all, readily admits, or should do so, that he has not the 
engineering experience to cover. As a result the difficulty must be left 
unsolved as the expense of importing competent engineer from a distance 
for a solitary job is far too expensive. 

Concrete instances of this point have been furnished by C. F. Dupuis 
and others in Williams county; W. S. Parker, D. A. Cross and the Drain 
Board in Ransom county; L. A. Stanley and the Drain Board in Sargent 
county; F. E. Barnes, G. A. Ballard and the Drain Board in Richland 
county and other instances too numerous to mention, where appeal has 
been made to the State Commission for well merited relief. As there 
was no appropriation to cover such cases, no remedy was to be had. 

It is a matter of common knowledge that enormous damages have re¬ 
sulted from wrongly constructed ditches. In all events the expense to 
the farmers of importing engineering talent is out of all proportion to 
the needs, and clearly should be covered by a little inexpensive consulta¬ 
tion extended to the local surveyor by some competent, regularly con¬ 
stituted authority. The hundreds of cases of this class could be economi¬ 
cally disposed of in short order by this means. 

The present system practically prohibits the development of many 
legitimate projects, and results in keeping in marshy condition hundreds 
of thousands of acres of the best land in many counties. This not only 
entails incalculable loss to the owner, but, owing to the low assessment 
and lack of crop yield, the state is a large loser. 

True, certain recourse to the state is now specified, but it is so onerous 
in its terms as to be denounced by past state engineers as unusable. 
It has worked out that way in practice. 

Adequate provision should therefore be provided for inexpensive con¬ 
sultation from competent state authority, who will co-operate with the 
county surveyor wherever required. 

County work is at present independent, disconnected, and often one 
county is injured by the work of another to the extent of hundreds of 
thousands of dollars. This great evil should be remedied and the work 
of the different counties co-ordinated and systematically worked out in 
connection with a consulting state office. 

Pioneers first settled, developed and drained the rich low lands next 
to the watercourses. When costly ditches were dug whose size was 
gauged to cover only the run-off requirements of the lands close by, no 



12 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


authority existed to correlate the work to fit in with that to be done later 
in newer, higher counties or districts. 

When once these latter lands are developed and drained, the great ditch 
systems bring in a vast flood far beyond the capacity of the earlier dit¬ 
ches leading directly into the river, and which must often take their load. 
As a result of this lack of any general plan the older ditches are often 
filled to capacity at a time when they should be draining the adja¬ 
cent taxed lands. The character of the soil, taken with the lack of 
plan often causes the ditches to silt up with earth, or be washed out and 
eroded into great ugly gullies. Thus the original ditch is a total loss, 
as well as much valuable land. 

Piecemeal drainage w r ork, done on the cut-and-try plan, with no broad 
valley-wide plan has cost the farmers of the state of Minnesota the loss 
of millions of dollars in the past. Is this gross error to be repeated in 
North Dakota? 

The ordinary drainage proceedings will not be disturbed, the detailed 
survey will be met in the ordinary way, as will the cost of ditch con¬ 
struction by the lands benefited. 

Appointment of Engineer and State Commission 

t 

This State Drainage office should be filled by appointment by the gov¬ 
ernor and be made directly responsible to him and a state drainage com¬ 
mission. Said commission should consist of the Governor and State 
Drainage Engineer, ex-officio, and three others appointed by the Gov¬ 
ernor. 

After 30 years of disastrous delay in abortive efforts to even start the 
rectification of a great evil where millions of dollars have been need¬ 
lessly lost in repeated floods in the Red Valley, the above officer should 
be put into the field in March with his staff, to rush to completion com¬ 
plete plans for relief. 

Appropriation 

This office should be financed about as follows: — 


Salaries, ets. 

State Drainage Engineer, salary per annum . $3,000 

Traveling expenses per annum .. 1,000 

1st Assistant Engineer, salary per annum .. 2,200 

Traveling expenses per annum . 500 

2nd Assistant Engineer, salary per annum . 2,000 

Traveling expenses per annum . 500 

Two assistants, part time, salary ($1500 each) . 3,000 

Stenographer and clerk, salary . 1,200 

Office equipment, instruments, etc. 3,000 


Total annual . $16,400 

Total biennial . $32,800 

i ’ I \ 


The Commission is herewith following the most generally approved 
lines, and those recommended to it by the engineers of the Miami Con¬ 
servatory, District of Ohio, where a gigantic flood control system is now 
actually being constructed. Here the safety of the lives of the people 


) 


















STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


13 


as well as vast financial investments are vitaly involved. Every advant¬ 
age should be taken of every investigation made in other states. 

A few engineers who have given flood control but little study have ser¬ 
iously underestimated the vast problems faced in the Red River Valley, 
and naively say that it is “just a matter for engineers”. While it is true 
that all we can do for some months is of an engineering character, it 
must be bourn in mind that if any good is to come of all this initial out¬ 
lay, it must be followed by actual construction work running into millions 
in cost, much of which has already been approved by higher federal en¬ 
gineers. The public patience is in no mood for further cut-and-try work. 
It will surely prove fatal to success if we do not at once recognize that 
the foundations must be laid on a firm business basis, carefully planning 
each act in the engineering work with that business sagacity, which has 
marked the Miami Commissioner’s program and which alone will make 
the “professional man”, the engineer, immune from later just criticism. 
Every move should be timed with just as much caution as if it were 
actually assured of practical application in. some construction work. 

The discredit attached by some to the past “30 years of surveys” is 
largely due to the fact that the engineers were not working up to some 
definite goal—the actual construction of comprehensive works to relieve 
the whole Red Valley. Small sums of money were available for but 
some local projects, unrelated to the whole valley, or meagre sums were 
appropriated for a ‘thin veneer’ for a too great area. 

Other engineers underestimate the vast amount which after all has 
been done by federal, state and county engineers, and has already been 
worked over. One unfortunate thing about flood control work has arisen 
from the fact that repeatedly new sets of men have been placed in 
authority who have never made a thoro study of past work. All pro¬ 
gress was then held up until these men could study up and catch up 
with what progress had already been made. The mining engineer, road 
engineer or general practitioner holds no brief on the vast valley problem 
unless he has given it a special undivided study in the field for several 

years of time. v 

The Miami project is the first, the great pioneer work of that kind on 
any such scale as we are going to do it in the Red Valley. Ohio is ac¬ 
tually spending millions on well worked out experiments, “where the 
thing is being done the first time.” I sincerely believe their research 
will save hundreds of thousands in our vast work if we take advantage of 
close observation. It would be a vital mistake and a great waste were 
we not to follow first hand this experiment where millions are lavishly 
spent in learning how and “in doing it right”. No state can afford to 
cut and try again, when the demonstration is now going on covering it 
all for the rest of us. We are lucky that Ohio is a Tap ahead of us’ in 
this work. We can’t “get it all from books. It is the man who is on the 
job to see it when it is done that can do it again. 

Whether or not bonds are floated, or lump sums are appropriated for 
reservoirs (later recommended) in order to avoid longer indefinite delay 
in flood control work, the following sums must be available whereby 
state officials may make investigations if any protection is to be made 
even at some future time. 



14 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


INVESTIGATION OF FOUNDATIONS 

Thorough examination must be made by borings to determine the exact 
character of foundations (and thereby the location of the exact spot) at 
the damsites already recommended in the preliminary survey of the Com¬ 
mission. This will entail many borings about the various sites, abso¬ 
lutely necessary to determine whether the sub-soil is sufficiently im¬ 
pervious to safely warrant the erection of a dam to hold a large water 
body. 

SOIL ANALYSIS 

Examination and analysis of soils about these sites to ascertain if 
enough material can be found nearby from which the large body of an 
earthen dam can be constructed (from puddled clay as later recommend¬ 
ed.) 

RUN-OFF DETERMINATIONS 

These must be made, preferably in co-operation with the government, 
which will probably pay one-half of the cost, at gauging stations located 
at several points on each tributary of the Red River. This work should 
be started at once whether dams are to be built now or after ten more 
floods. 

APPROPRIATION FOR INVESTIGATION AND TEST OF MATERIALS 

For this work as outlined above should be appropriated for immediate 
use under an expert in each line the following sums: 


(a) For foundation borings . $10,000 

(b) For soil examination .. 3,000 

(c) For run-off gaugings . 2,000 


Total . $15,000 


THE DRAINAGE COMMISSION 

The three members of the proposed State Drainage Commission, chosen 
at large by the Governor, should act with the Governor and Drainage 
Engineer as financial managers of the business of building the dams, 
canals, etc. For this Commission the sum of $10,000 should be appro¬ 
priated for their expenses and a per diem of $10. 

SUMMARY OF APPROPRIATION RECOMMENDED 

Summarizing above for engineering work and administration of the 
flood control work we have recommended appropriations for the Biennial 


period of 1919-20 the following: — 

(a) Drainage Engineer and Staff for Entire State . $32,800 

(b) Special Investigation of all Dam Sites and Materials.. 15,000 

(c) Drainage Commissioners . 10,000 

Total . $57,800 


While above figures for engineering work for the first biennial period 
total $57,800, they are small in comparison with the magnitude of the 
projects contemplated and with the benefits they will bring in crop sav¬ 
ing in the Red River Valley. 















STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


15 


Further, as much of the general work is hereby covered for all pro¬ 
jects, it is felt the cost of engineering work will run proportionately much 
less in succeeding years. 



—Photo by City Engineer Anders. 

Flood around big Fargo auditorium, spring 1916, showing what the 
high water does to the buildings on low lying lands in cities along the 
Red river. It is hard to estimate the great loss to stock and supplies in 
the hundreds of basements flooded with foulest sewage and river water 
backed up thru the sewers, to say nothing of the toll in health from un¬ 
sanitary conditions. 

Reservoirs 

If floods are ever to be stopped in the Red River, Pembina, Mouse and 
other valleys, something beyond engineering work must be started, and 
there is no valid reason why a start on construction even though modest, 
should not be made in the next two years. 

Naturally construction work can not go far till a broad plan is worked 
out a little further, but the present state of the work and recommenda¬ 
tions from the War Department Engineers and the State Commission 
engineer make it perfectly clear that certain dams are fully worked out 
and definitely needed. In fact they are already demonstrated as needed 
as the first units of the larger system. 

Not only does the State Commissioner approve certain dams at cer¬ 
tain points, but the numerous preliminary surveys of the War De¬ 
partment have definitely recommended a few of the many possible dams. 
Again the new Tri-State Flood Control Association agreed to co-operate 
with the U. S. Department of Agriculture only on the agreement of the 
Department to first work out in advance a few of the headwater pro¬ 
jects, in order that the results might be available for immediate use, 
and not delay the whole project until the tedious details of all dam sites 
were worked out. 












































































16 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 



Fargo College and Athletic Field, Flood of 1916 


As the first two years engineering plans are most costly, only two or 
three dams are recommended by the Commission for immediate construc¬ 
tion. The work of building should be well under way by 1920 at least. 
Being located at strategic points, near tributary headwaters, where the 
first control works would naturally be, they are the smaller projects and 
therefor the less costly. 

It may readily be reasoned that, owing to their size and locations, they 
will not in themselves suddenly end all floods. It may be answered that 
this is beside the issue, as these dams, though not able to remove the 
flood menace of a whole watershed, containing 25,000 square miles of rich 
agricultural lands, may confidently be expected to hold back their due 
proportion of water and extend a fair proportion of protection to the val¬ 
ley lands. Their futher advantage as initial units of construction lies 
in the fact that they are at locations structurally safe from failure due 
to floods near a river mouth. These will gradually be taken care of by 
later larger structures. 

WAR AND AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT SURVEYS IN AGREEMENT 

Above conclusions are based by the Commission not only on the field 
work of the two seasons spent by the writer as engineer on the North 
Dakota State Commission, but on the concensus of the opinions of the 
various federal engineers, who have been detailed by the government at 
various times on various Red River Valley projects. So far as can be 
learned there is no disagreement by federal, state or private engineers 
of standing on the entire feasibility of the whole general plan, or on the 
large component projects. Further it has been subscribed to by the N. 
D. Flood Control Association, and in its main features by the other de¬ 
velopment associations of North Dakota and Minnesota. 















Flood Scenes about Island Park, Fargo, in 1897 





Flood Scenes about Island Park, Fargo, in 1897. 









STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


17 


ESTIMATES ON RESERVOIRS FOR IMMEDIATE CONSTRUCTION 

Bearing all the state’s economic necessities in mind, and weighing the 
needs of the Red River Valley as compared with the welfare of the whole 
state, it is therefore recommendel that means be now provided for the 
construction of two reservoirs in the biennial period of 1919-20. One at 
Lake Traverse, at the headwaters of the Bois de Sioux—the continuation 
of the Red at the south; one at Harvey, North Dakota, as near the head¬ 
waters of the major tributary, the Sheyenne, as possible and at the same 
time be feasible. 

The advantages of these sites are considered at length in the technical 
part of the report. Immediate means should be adopted for financing 
these dams by the state by bond issue or lump sum appropriation or by 
the lands most benefited. 

The fact the Lake Traverse dam site lies totally outside the state, be¬ 
ing on the boundary line of Minnesota and South Dakota one mile south 
of the North Dakota boundary, should not complicate the case unduly as 
very much of the benefit to be derived from this dam will accrue to 
North Dakota. It is estimated that one-third of the cost should be borne 
by this state, and that $75,000 should be provided at once from which 
one-third of the cost of dam and reservoir construction shall be taken. 

Minnesotans estimate the acreage benefitted in each of the three states 
at: — 

Minnesota . 5000 acres 

South Dakota . 10000 acres 

North Dakota . 25000 acres - 

These figures are not accepted as final, and it may be further cited 

✓ 

that most of the water coming into Lake Traverse is from the Minnesota 
side. Balancing all complications it may fairly be considered that North 
Dakota should bear one-third of the cost. 

Drainage and Flood Control “Districts* Recommended 

From the repeated experience of other states, including the dishearten¬ 
ing example of the last two years in Minnesota it is believed that the only 
way to actually start any action looking to flood control, certainly within 
the next several years time, is to use “direct action” on the part of the 
state as outlined in preceding recommendations. The first two years pro¬ 
gram should be financed by the legislature at once. 

Two years ago the states of Minnesota and South Dakota passed a law 
known as the “drainage district’’ law. This act provides for the assess¬ 
ment of the cost of construction of impounding reservoirs, as well as of 
ordinary ditches, as taxes against the lands directly benefitted. In the¬ 
ory this is ideal. In practice it does not work out in many projects. 
In the two years since its passage in Minnesota and South Dakota, al¬ 
though several broad-minded men of great capacity for organization have 
endeavored to make this law operative in initiating flood control work, 
no results have followed. Two years more have been added to the past 
30 years of abortive efforts to relieve the absurd loss of crops in the val¬ 
ley. If private or corporate business were managed with the stupidity 
with which the protection of a vast farming interest is conducted in the 









18 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


Red valley, continuous financial disaster would be the order of the day. 
We attack with naive indirection the protection of the “bread basket of the 
world”, and permit millions of waste to come to the farmer and business 
man, while we must orate, and “educate” the people to invest twenty 
millions once, in order to save that sum many times over, nearly that 
amount every flood. What is everybody’s business is nobody’s business 
has led the people to overlook the big issue in the Red valley. 

Plowever it is believed the Minnesota “district law” is good if only pro¬ 
vision is made at the same time for getting the direct action of the state, 
recommended before. It appears that the only weakness in the “dis¬ 
trict” law is in the matter of ‘intiation’. Though this plan is ap¬ 
plicable in many other projects, in the peculiar situation in the Red 
River Valley the necessary steps for getting the work started seem 
almost a prohibitive element, taking years of agitation and organization 
for the accomplishment of something the people want most of anything, 
but which requires the concert of action of an agricultural people scat¬ 
tered over a wide area. Lack of acquaintance with the vast benefits of 
the whole comprehensive plan of a great valley-wide control, coupled 
with the petty jealousies often arising through loyalty to little local plans, 
have so far nullified the noble attempts to utilize the Minnesota, South Da¬ 
kota law. 

In time it will probably work out, and, accompanied by statutes to 
give definite and immediate punch to control work, it should at once 
be passed in North Dakota, and be made part of the statutes. In time 
under it the whole Red valley in North Dakota, should be organized into 
one “flood control district” with full powers to act. 

After two years futile effort to organize smaller districts, the people of 
Minnesota are beginning all over again, now attempting to organize into 
one ‘district’ all of that state in the Red valley. 

Once organized in each of the three states, such “districts” are empow¬ 
ered under a new federal law to “co-operate in the construction of pro¬ 
jects to control the floods and drain the lands” on even the so-called 
“navigable” Red River of the North. 

Much credit is due Hon. A. B. Kaercher of Ortonville, Minn., for pre¬ 
paring a modified and improved draft of the Minnesota law for submis¬ 
sion to, and consideration of the North Dakota legislature, upon which 
it is hereby recommended that favorable action may be taken. 

Summarizing, it is recommended that legislation take three lines: — 

(1) To cover drainage-flood control engineering; 

(2) Enable construction of dams at once; 

(3) Establish ‘drainage districts’. 

Early Surveys 

While many surveys have been made in Minnesota by the War De¬ 
partment in the last 30 years, entailing expenditure of several hundred 
thousand dollars on the various lake projects, as those of Red Lake, Ot- 
tertail and Traverse, it has done very little in North Dakota. 

The numerous valuable reports on these surveys may be had by address¬ 
ing the War Department, Washington, D. C., specifying the project in 
which one is interested. 



STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


19 


Previous to the appointment of the North Dakota Commission in 1917, 
survey work in this state, aside from county ditch and road work, con¬ 
sisted of only the following: 

In 1906 the Department of Agriculture cooperated with the state in 
making the Stewart-Atkinson survey in which detailed work was done 
carefully covering a narrow strip 10 to 20 miles wide along the Red 
River. Elaborate systems of drainage ditches were laid out. It is be¬ 
lieved the supply of the map and report of this valuable survey are no 
longer available for general distribution. The writer has but a few 
copies left which may be had for very special purposes. 

The U. S. Geological Survey, cooperating with the N. D. Soil and Geo¬ 
logical Survey of the Agricultural College, had made a topographic sur¬ 
vey on a twenty foot contour basis of all of Cass and Barnes counties 
south of the 47th parallel, (roughly, the southern two-thirds of these 
counties); all of Richard county and the eastern fourth of Sargent and 
Ransom and the northern third of Ransom county. The maps of these 
surveys proved helpful in starting the study of the upper Red and lower 
Sheyenne rivers. 

The same Bureau has made a more detailed survey, on a ten foot con¬ 
tour interval, of the Lake Traverse basin. All of these maps are avail¬ 
able on request addressed to the U, S. Geological Survey, Washington, 
D. C., or to the writer. 

Thus it is seen that the Commission had very little of earlier work of 
any great detail to start with aside from that of county surveyors. This 
latter is elaborate and valuable in some counties, meagre and of little 
use in others. 

A good map on a large scale of the Mustinka River watershed, including 
the Lake Traverse and upper Bois de Sioux basins has been prepared 
by Mr. George Ralph, consulting engineer of St. Paul, formerly State En¬ 
gineer. 

Previous to assuming the duties of his present office the writer had 
made a study of the soil and geological resources of the lower Sheyenne 
valley in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture. At the same 
time, much datum was naturally collected with respect to the river and 
its valley which now has a very direct bearing on the control of floods in 
the Red valley. This work has proven very useful. 



















STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


21 


Projects Proposed for Flood Prevention 
in the Red River Valley 

The general project herein proposed consists principally of;— (1) 

A series of dams and reservoirs to be constructed in the gorges of the 
North Dakota tributaries of the Red River and in Lake Tewaukon in 
Sargent county. (Shown on frontispiece map by double lines crossing 
the river.) and at several Minnesota lakes including Lake Traverse on 
the South Dakota boundary. 

(2) A large canal to give definite channel to the Bois de Sioux slough 
on the Minnesota-North Dakota boundary. 

(3) Cutting off some of the numerous meanders of the Red and of the 
lower reaches of its tributaries. Dredging in places and general im¬ 
provement of their channels by removing brush and other obstructions 
which retard the free movement of water in the spring. 

(4) Diverting the drainage of Lake Traverse at times into Big Stone 
Lake, and possibly the upper Clearwater river into the Mississippi. The 
latter is naturally beyond the jurisdiction of the state of North Dakota. 



Sheyenne river channel, a, a, is 10 to 20 feet deep and 100 feet to 250 
feet wide from Nelson county southward, and affords the sites of many 
small reservoirs for private enterprise, yielding 150 to 300 horsepower. 
Valley, b, b, is Va to IV 2 miles wide at the bottom, widening to one to two 

miles at the top where it merges into the prairie 200 to 300 feet above. Its 

narrows afford sites for the high earthen dams. Flood plain, c, c, is 
unusually V 2 to one mile wide usually consisting of rich alluvial farm 
land, some of which would be damaged by high dams, and would have to 
be bought. The slopes, c, b, are often heavily wooded* and very beauti¬ 
ful natural parks. 

West of Nelson County the valley depth drops from 150 feet until it 
is 69 feet at Harvey, and the channel is quite small. The valley is also 
much narrower consisting of little but hay and pasture land. 






22 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


SHEYENNE RIVER PROJECTS 

The Sheyenne River contributes a large proportion of the water re¬ 
ceived by the Red river south of Grand Forks certain years, giving rough¬ 
ly one-half the total. While it often runs a low proportion, it is the high 
flood years that we are concerned with. Its control therefore becomes a 
matter of importance in the relief of the valley. Especially is this true 
since it brings the spring freshets from the higher counties, back as far 
as Sheridan in the center of the state, down upon the flat Red valley 
where the stream channels usually prove competent to drain the land 
except when overloaded by this “second flood” from the higher counties. 
In the years of flood this water from the higher counties keeps the rivers 
channel full for many days or a few weeks, during proper seeding time 
and until too late to drain the land and to get the crop in on time. If 
planted at all the grain gets so late start as to be unable to mature before 
rust strikes it. As result hundreds of thousands of acres are all the way 
from 10 per cent to 90 per cent off, and an equal amount is never able 
to be seeded at all. This becomes the basis of the millions of dollars of 
loss to say nothing of unsanitary conditions by flooding basements of the 
greater part of several of the largest cities of the state. Were this water 
held back by reservoirs but for a few days or a few weeks at most in the 
higher counties until the lowlands had time to drain, then allowed to es¬ 
cape as the channels could handle it no damage would result at all. 

Fortunately the gorge-like valley of the Sheyenne is fairly well adapted 
to the construction of reservoirs so far as its form is concerned. It is 
hoped the foundation will prove equally competent. From the west line 
of Wells county to the point where the Sheyenne flows out onto the level 
floor of extinct Lake Agassiz (Red River valley) in eastern Ransom 
county, it is confined for 200 miles in a narrow gorge varying in depth 
from 69 feet at Harvey to 850 feet between the morainic hills of southern 
Barnes county. In many places the jaws of the valley walls are close 
enough to afford more feasible dam sites. 

Ransom County Dam Sites 

From Lisbon northwest to the county line the Sheyenne gorge is suffi¬ 
ciently narrow to make dams feasible from the standpoint of construction 
cost. However the valley flood plain is sufficiently wide and fertile to 
afford many rich farms and fine homes. It is therefore feared that the 
flowage rights would make a dam unwarranted. Much the same condi¬ 
tion holds in the southern two-thirds of Barnes county, though there ex¬ 
ists a good dam site at the south boundary line. If the flowage rights 
are not considered too great, a dam could be constructed of sufficient 
size to materially relieve the Red valley of the menace of floods from 
the Sheyenne. However this site is not recommended for initial con¬ 
struction at this time. 

Barnes County Projects 

One of the most feasible dam sites in Barnes county if not in the whole 
state is located about nine miles north of Valley City near the old Baumez 
bridge. Here the valley is not only quite narrow and the valley bluffs 



STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


23 


of fairly firm material, but extending some distance north beyond the 
Great Northern railway, it does not contain much specially valuable farm 
land. While a part of it is cultivated, much of it is rough pasture land 
which would be actually benefited by temporary flooding. This site is 
far enough down stream to catch much of the river run-off. Unless the 
results of more detailed work contradict that of the preliminary survey 
it is recommended that the first large dam be later constructed at this 
point. Probably this reservoir should be undertaken in the Biennial pe¬ 
riod 1921-2. It is estimated that the river run-off and the reservoir ca¬ 
pacity at this point are adequate to warrant the outlay of about $500,000 
in the construction of a dam. 

This site is in S. E. Sec. 32 T. 58, R. 142. In early times all the trails 
led to it as one of the best places for the pioneers to cross the river. 
A bridge was constructed here at an early date. 

The valley is about 160 feet deep and the river runs in a channel twen¬ 
ty feet below its bottom. Steep shoulders come in to within about 400 
yards, making about as narrow point as can be found south of the 
juncture of Bald Hill Creek six miles north. 

Bald Hill creek is a narrow V-shaped valley, 150 feet deep, whose 
shoulders slope down to the creek, too steep for tillage, except on one 
side. This gorge would add to the storage capacity. From its entrance 
in Sec. 3, T. 142, R. 58, to the Great Northern bridge ten miles north in 
Griggs county, the valley land Is largely pasture, not having flowage 
rights prohibitively high for condemnation for a reservoir. 

While no cuts are shown of the valley at this exact site, the three beau¬ 
tiful views at the Northern Pacific High Line Bridge at Valley City, 
with their legends indicate the general valley structure. Again, compare 
these with the schematic cross section of the valley on another page. 

It is further urged that extensive (a) subsoil borings be taken to fin¬ 
ally test the foundations of a prospective dam site, (b) that the soil be 
subjected to such tests as will demonstrate its adaptability to the con¬ 
struction of “puddle core” earthen dams; (c) that “cross sections” be 
made at this point; and such engineering data be provided as will finally 
confirm the feasibility of the site and give detailed costs of dam and res¬ 
ervoir. This should be done in the next two years to be available for 
use for further recommendations. 

Griggs and Nelson Counties 

Through Griggs county and to a point in Nelson, south of Pekin, the 
Sheyenne valley is wider, being from one and a half to two miles wide, 
possibly containing too much valuable farm land to be condemned for 
permanent submergence. No reason is believed to exist as to why it may 
not be temporarily submerged for a short time in the spring as a temp¬ 
orary reservoir. This would irrigate it for a heavy crop. If submerged, 
it would be by a dam at the last mentioned Barnes county site. 

Eddy, Benson and Wells Counties 

In western Nelson county the Sheyenne valley narrows down to a steep 
sided gorge, and so continues through Eddy and Benson counties, with 
walls that are from 100 to 150 feet high. In northwestern Wells county 









—Photo by Hard. 


Typical views of Sheyenne river in Eddy, Benson and Wells counties, 
looking from south side of valley in southern Benson county, township 
151-6S, across the narrow, deep valley. The river is seen meandering aim¬ 
lessly across its flood plain, which it floods nearly every spring, insuring a 
hay crop. For over 25 miles west the Sheyenne has a narrow one-half mile 
wide valley, over 100 feet deep, affording sites for high dams, whose im¬ 
pounding water would flood only hay lands. This narrow, gorge-like, 
prehistoric valley is strikingly larger than the tiny stream at its bottom. 



—Photo by Hard. 


It was excavated when the Sheyenne received the drainage from the 
Mouse river country in glacial times. The chain of lakes and big slough 
across Pierce county brought heavy floods of ice water along the edge of the 
great mass of the glacier lying to the northeast. The water entered the 
north fork of the Sheyenne in southwestern Benson county. Even now' 

the river fills its six foot channel to overflow for ten days or more each 
spring, and seldom goes dry any summer. A series of dams in this valley 
will give water for towns, for boating, fish, and winter ice. 











































































































































STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


25 


the valley becomes shallower, being 69 feet deep at Harvey. From a 
point south of Pekin to the two sources of the river, Sheyenne and Buf¬ 
falo lakes, there is little farm land and very few houses of any descrip¬ 
tion in the valley. Most of the land is pasturage which only yields abund¬ 
antly on those years when the Sheyenne overflows its banks. Therefore 
a temporary overflow, such as would be caused only in the upper part of 
each reservoir basin, or in the whole basin if the water were but briefly 
detained, would prove as beneficial as any irrigation. 

From Pekin to Harvey the valley is uniformly narrow and deep, and 
affords in about 90 miles almost continuous reservoir facilities adjacent 



—Photo by Hard. 

Sheyenne river and valley side at Peoples grove in east central Eddy 
county. The valley is narrow and the sides are divided into two benches, 
the first being about 50 ft. above the river. The general level is about 100 
ft. above the river, and the high morainic hills surmount this. The valley 
sides, about 1-3 to 1-2 mile apart, are well wooded with small growth. 
There is little but hay and pasture land below, where the gradual slope 
or short benches begin at, or within a few rods of the river. From Mc- 
Viile 30 miles east to Wellsburg 60 miles west, the valley is not dissimilar, 
being from 75 to 150 ft. deep and varying from 2-3 to 1 1-4 miles wide at 
the top tho the two benches are not persistent thruout. Narrows afford 
several good dam sites. For most of its course up to northwestern Eddy 
county the Sheyenne threads a beautiful wooded valley. From this point 
west the sides are bare. 

to several dam sites. The only probable limitation to be placed on its 
usefulness lies in its nearness to the source of the river which may ex¬ 
clude use of more than one dam, in addition to that at Harvey. This 
condition can be fully determined in the next four years of run-off de- 






















































































































26 REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 

terminations which it has been recommended should be made from a spe¬ 
cial engineering fund. Later construction would depend on these re¬ 
sults. 

As recommended before, a dam should be built at once at Harvey. It 
should be for semi-permanent use, that is, retention of the spring waters 
should be permitted late in the year. Within certain limits the danger 
of serious floods is past after the first spring freshet. On the chance of 
flood conditions resulting from early summer rains, all dams should be 
partly emptied before this time. It is kept in mind that reseivoirs for 
flood protection in most climates are useless for other purposes, since to 
be effective for catching a flood the reservoir must be empty. However 
in the peculiar climatic conditions pertaining to this part of North Da¬ 
kota, this rule is not operative to any large degree. In fact it is believed 
that much of the water can be detained with reasonable degree of safety 
in all proposed dams until some months have lapsed, and any desired 
use made of the supply. As an example, the water retained at Harvey 
may become a valuable source of water supply, for the town whose con¬ 
sumption is rapidly approaching the point where it will exceed the pres¬ 
ent supply. 

So long as the reservoirs are empty before the spring thaw, and spring 
rains come, it will be safe. 

Harvey Reservoir 

Many considerations enter into the choice of the Harvey dam site. It 
is always kept in mind that 90 per cent or more, of the benefits to be de¬ 
rived from dams will accrue to the Red River valley. A dam at Harvey 



—Photo by Hard. 

Soo R. R. dam and reservoir, Harvey, N. D. and its pumping plant. 
The Sheyenne Valley is 69 feet deep and 1050 feet wide (at top), cut iu 
glacial drift. The dam is 12 feet high in the center and is 567 feet long; 
spilway, 33feet x 30 inches. Reservoir is becoming inadequate for the 
needs of the growing town, and the railroad. 

will capture a sufficient run-off to warrant its construction there. Fur¬ 
ther, a dam at this point will give much more local benefit to the vicin¬ 
ity of the dam than any other in North Dakota. It will give a permanent 











» 


t 










I ‘ 


. 




/ 







STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


27 


municipal water supply for the town. This is very important locally 
as otherwise the water consumption of this growing town will soon ex¬ 
ceed its present supply. Possibly a reservoir is the only feasible means 
of supplying the town. 

So long as any given site will afford an equal amount of protection 
to the Red valley, its degree of local benefit should be given strong con¬ 
sideration. ' 

If the Sheyenne could be controlled by one dam, and without damage 
to farm lands, this should be placed far down stream in Ransom or 
Barnes county and be a big one. This probably cannot well be done. 
A series of dams is contemplated to insure sufficient reservoir capacity 
to hold back the peak of the occasional large flood, and at the same time 
to avoid inundating a prohibitative area of the broad fertile farm lands 
containing fine country homes in the lower valley. 

Dams in the upper part of the valley from south central Nelson to 
Sheridan county line will flood little but hay and pasture lands, which 
seldom yield much anyway unless overflowed by exceptionally high water 
in the previous spring. The “flowage rights” should be little, certainly 
nothing where the land is simply benefited by being flooded a short time 
in the spring, as it will be furthest up stream from each dam. 

While able to catch sufficient water, a dam at Harvey will be in a po¬ 
sition safe, as an initial unit, from the remote chance of dam failure from 
great floods. 

A dam at this point will, in common with others like situated, insure a 
semi-permanent reservoir for water supply, fish cultivation, ice cutting 
and resort purposes. Further it will practically make a high line bridge 
across the valley which is 69 feet deep and 1000 feet wide at this point. 

• Owing to the exceptional value to be derived by the town and county 
from a control dam at this point it is believed that the citizens of Har¬ 
vey and Wells county would readily consent to bear a small but reason- 
al)le part of the initial cost and would assume the responsibility of quiet¬ 
ing all flowage rights. Some equable arrangement can readily be made. 

From the revenue derived from fish cultivated in certain Minnesota 
Lakes ,as Lac qui Parle, it is certain that much more than the annual 
maintenance of the completed reservoir can be obtained therefrom. 

For this project it is recommended that the state at once provide the 
sum of $125,000 as a minimum estimate for a competent reservoir at this 
site. This is on the basis that a large part of the engineering work 
will be provided by the passing of the already proposed bills for engi¬ 
neering investigations in the whole valley. Further it is on the basis of 
the economically constructed earthen dam, later discussed. Direct appro¬ 
priation or bond flotation should be provided for by the 1919 leigslature. 

Wild Rice Project 

Lake Tewaukon—In 1916 the basin of the Wild Rice River, comprising 
much of Sargent county was seriously flooded owing to insufficient num¬ 
ber, and to certain wrongly constructed drainage canals and ditches. Aa 
in Richland, Cass and other valley counties, lack of drainage permitted 
much of this water to stand through the spring and early summer of 
1917, continuing the enormous crop losses to that year. 





28 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


There are real engineering projects in this county, which only an en¬ 
gineer of large experience should be asked to consider. To leave these 
questions to a local surveyor is to court large loss to, and hardship on 
the farmer. 

Again in 1916 the flood of the Wild Rice contributed much loss in the 
Red River valley by keeping its lower channel full of water during seed¬ 
ing time, thus preventing the drainage of adjacent lands in Richland and 
Cass counties. 

The Wild Rice has in its course the only North Dakota lake which can 
serve as a storage reservoir for water to protect the Red Valley. Lake 
Tewaukon in the southeast corner of the county is over two miles long 
and one to one and a half miles wide. 

It is a beautiful tree fringed lake with steep precipitous banks that 
were 15 to 20 feet above the water in mid-summer of 1917. In July, 
1916, the water had stood ten feet higher. The Wild Rice leaves it on the 
north through a very narrow, deep channel, in which a dam could be 
built for the small sum of about $15,000. The outlet can be cut down 
several feet permitting the lowering of the lake in the fall, ready for in¬ 
creased capacity next spring. This will allow an 18 to 20 feet dam which 
will hold back a considerable portion of the floods of the upper Wild 
Rice. This is a case where a very small dam will do much good. While 
it may not remove all of the Wild Rice influence on floods in the Red 
Valley, it will reduce it greatly, and, owing to the ease and cheapness 
with which it can be controlled, really a dam should be constructed at 
this point at once, providing the results of the detailed survey substan¬ 
tiate those of the preliminary and no injury would result to the lands 
above. 

Another fine feature about this reservoir, is the fact that it will cause 
practically no loss of land by flooding. This is contrary to the fear, 
prevalent with a few. With a dam of proper height there will be prac¬ 
tically no flowage outside the present lake surface, owing to the steep 
height of the banks. Possibly the water may extend to the west up the 
Wild Rice channel a short distance. Possibly two miles, but the width 
would only be a few rods, and the land covered for a few weeks, is all 
nearly worthless “gumbo”, or alkali. With a large body of fresh water 
standing on this narrow strip each season it would be cleansed of its 
alkali and be made of some real value, producing good hay or pasture. 

One great canal, 40 miles long has just been completed in Sargent 
county; and numerous laterals are being joined which will speed up the 
drainage and soon make the Wild Rice floods an even greater menace. 
Probably some of the Wild Rice drainage can be taken ’south through 
the low divide into the James river. This should be investiagted at once 
by competent engineers. 

Pembina River Projects 

A vast amount of river channel improvement is recommended for the 
Pembina, Tongue and other of the northern tributaries; some straight¬ 
ening should be done. Usually the banks are obstructed by brush which 
grows out from them, for one-third of the stream’s width. In places the 
overhanging branches nearly meet. This catches a great snow bank in 






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—Photo by Courtesy of Northwest Nursery Co., Valley City, N. D. 

Rich alluvial Sheyenne valley floor and valley side in distance, Northern 

Pacific R. R. bridge built in 1906-1908. 



























29 


STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 



—Photo by Hard. 

Pembina river, five miles west of Walhalla at juncture with the Little 
Pembina, and gorge whose steep walls of solid clay, boulders and shale are 
200 feet high. The valley of Little Pembina is very similar to this for some 
miles. They are cut thru the face of the Manitoba escarpment, or the 
valley side wall of an ancient river system which dates further back than 
the lake (Agassiz) which produced the level prairie of the Red River 
valley. 

The gorge is one-eighth to one-fourth mile wide at top, where its 
shoulders meet the high prairie. From this line the valley walls pitch 
steeply to within a few rods of the river channel. Near this point some 
years ago a 55-foot dam was planned. The narrow, deep gorge extends 
foi 15 miles across Cavalier county and far into Canada. 

the winter which, with the shade in the spring often prevents the water 
following the river channel. In some places the water spreads out over 
the prairie for miles, gently flowing parallel to the river. 

Walhalla Dam Site.—At Walhalla, North Dakota, the Pembina river 
issues from a narrow steep-walled gorge to traverse the level floor of 
Lake Agassiz in the Red River Valley. This V shaped gorge continues 
across Cavalier county about 200 feet deep and from 1-8 to 1-4 mile wide. 
It extends into Canada many miles. Beginning about six miles west of 
Walhalla where the Pembina, is joined by the Little Pembina, the gorge 
affords several dam sites, as it trends its way about 16 miles to the in¬ 
ternational line. Probably the best dam site is at the point of juncture 
with the Little Pembina, where some years ago a private survey was 
made, for a 55 foot dam. Here the jaws of the valley vary from 1-8 to 
1-4 miles apart, at the bottom, while at the top from brim to brim of the 
prairie they are 1-2 to 3-4 miles apart. Other good dam sites are at the 
old and new “fishtrap” bridges. 

The sides of the valley are partly solid shale of the Pierre formation 
and partly glacial drift. Detailed leveling and borings to test founda¬ 
tions will determine the final feasibility of the exact dam site. 


4 




































































































30 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 



—Photo by Kitchin. 

Spring flood of Pembina river at Walhalla, showing the volume for many 

days 


There is no farm land in the gorge and only rough broken pasture 
lands and small timber will be inundated by a reservoir. 

Owing to the larger fall of the stream, the capacity of the reservoirs 
would be less than in the Sheyenne Valley. However it is believed that 
the thorough study of the detailed survey of the gorge will prove that at 
least one reservoir would be warranted. It is perfectly clear that, as with 
other tributaries of the Red, the Pembina unloads from the high country 
a vast amount of water which keeps its small crooked Red valley channel 
bank full at a time when it should be acting in draining the valuable 
farm land of Pembina county. Instead, in the spring, the water lays un¬ 
drained to sour the rich fields until the critical few days wherein they 
should be seeded have past. Late seeding results in an immature crop 
which the rust strikes. Even in 1918, the year of unheard of yields in the 
drained portions of the Red River Valley, the crops of the undrained parts 
of Pembina and other counties were all the way from 10 to 30 per cent 
below normal. 

Pembina county and the Pembina and Tongue rivers should receive 
earliest attention to make safe from water-logging its rich agricultural 
lands. A fine example in a smaller way, of what may be done is shown 
along the lower Pembina, where the Geroux slough which normally 
drains a large section of rich lands has been controlled from the evils 
of high spring floods coming from the Pembina. Each spring of flood 
the high water of the Pembina “second flood” would back into the Geroux 
slough, after it had been drained of its own water, and cause a reflooding 
of the slough and adjacent lands. 
























—Photo by Courtesy of Mayor I. J. Moe, Valley City, N. D. 
Sheyenne River Channel and Valley Side in Distance 



Sheyenne River Channel with Valley Wall in Distance. An eleven- 
foot dam produces 75 horse-power for part of year to supplement the 
engines in flour mill by producing electricity for lighting, etc. 



































STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


31 


Senator Walter Welford and several neighbors owning the lands af¬ 
fected, conceived the idea of placing a dam, with gates at the entrance of 
the slough to the river. The work was laid out by competent engineers 
and construction of the dam now prevents the loss of thousands of dol¬ 
lars, many years, by excluding the rise of the Pembina. 

If this much can be accomplished in a small way what are not the pos¬ 
sibilities of great comprehensive valley-wide projects. 



—Photo by K itch in. 

Ice gorge on Pembina river, Walhalla, 1903, showing the line of the small 

dam completely submerged 

Lake Traverse Project 

Though Lake Traverse is outside the state, the writer early realized the 
vast benefits to be derived from the building of a dam at White Rock to 
control its outlet and protect Richland county directly, and indirectly all 
the Red River Valley. 

As a result, a critical study was made of this lake early in 1917. 

This project was one of the first to be recognized by federal engineers, 
as well as people generally as one of the best reservoir basins in the Red 
River Valley. As a result, the War and Interior Departments have made, 
and the Agricultural engineers are now making a thorough study and 
survey. All agree that Lake Traverse is one of the most logical places to 
initiate control work. 

The results of the writers work confirms the findings that a dam from 
8 to 10 feet high should be constructed across the outlet of the lake just 
south of the town of White Rock, South Dakota. 

The greater part of the water draining through Lake Traverse comes 
from the Mustinka River. This stream drains a low tract of about 800 
square miles, so level that, until enormous ditches or canals were dug in 
















32 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


recent years, much of the rainfall never ran off, but laid till it slowly 
evaporated into the air. 

The more rapid discharge of the run-off through these canals was as¬ 
signed as the cause of the three-year inundation of about 25,000 acres of 
old farm lands in North and South Dakota in 1915-7, and became the 
basis of the one and one-half million dollar damage suit brought in the 
U. S. Supreme Court by the Dakotas against Minnesota in behalf of the 
stricken farmers of Richland and Roberts counties. 

Practically the whole town of White Rock was awash in 1916 for 
most of the year. Its sidewalks were floating or submerged, according 
to material and construction. Many of its streets were navigated by 
boats. One can readily imagine the business depression. The improve¬ 
ments recommended will easily remove the chance of recurrence of this 
condition for all time. 

The land around Blackmar, five miles north was deeply submerged. 
Several farmers who had settled there but a few years before got rafts 
and removed as much of their household goods, implements and stock 
as possible, abandoning their homes. All this region can be made 
dry and free from floods. In fact the whole section from near Hankin- 
son, N. D., eastward 25 miles to Tinta, Minn., which was practtically a 
continuous sheet of water for most of the time for over two years, can 
readily be restored to its usual productivity. 

Much of Sargent county was also inundated in 1916 for a long period. 
Service was abandoned for some time on a part of the Soo railroad, its 
tracts being submerged about Cogswell. 

As a result of the floods of 1915-7 thousands of acres in Richland and 
other counties were converted into marshes. In August 1917, the writer 
saw section after section of fine old farm land covered thickly with cat¬ 
tails three feet high striking heads in the wind. 

$ 

Fine farm homes consisting of large build’ngs surrounded by big tree 
claims, built up in the last 25 years of prosperity, were standing lone¬ 
some and isolated in Richland county marshes extending as far as the 
eye could reach. Like conditions prevailed in the Davenport district of 
Cass county, and over hundreds of thousands of acres of other counties 
where cultivation had previously been almost uninterrupted since they 
were homesteaded, 35 to 40 years ago. 

One could not drive extensively as did the writer in 1917, thru all 
this great region of waste and desolation of many fine farm lands and 
homes, now converted into vast lonesome marshes, and not have his 
heart wrung with sympathy for its stricken inhabitants. Those pitiful 
scenes were enough to fire any son of the soil with a lasting zeal to 
help effect a remedy. 

Local rainfall, wrongly planned ditches and canals without trunk 
drainage outlet, “second floods” from higher counties turned loose on the 
rich lowlands without sensible control projects, all contributed to the 
loss of approximately 50 million dollars in the years of 1915 and 1917. 

From White Rock to the mouth of the Rabbit river, 13 miles north, the 
Bois de Sioux river, or slough has no definite channel. It is simply a 



STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


33 


broad level grassy slough about three miles wide. It must be artificially 
given a definite channel by floating dredge work. 

A dam at White Rock with a canal about 9 feet deep and 40 feet wide 
dug along the center of the Bois slough will largely solve the drainage 
troubles in the district where the three states meet. This covers the 
land which became the basis of the “million and a half dollar suit”. 

But, a knowledge of the rainfall, the Mustinka river run-off and the 
dimensions of the Traverse basin, show that to hold the “peak” of the 
maximum flood will require using the basin to its maximum capacity. 
This is also agreed to by the War Department engineers in their survey. 
Such a dam will cost about $250,000. 

Lake Traverse lies at the bottom of a great trough-like valley about 
30 miles in length and from two to three miles in width. The narrower 
southern half of the trough is over 200 feet deep. It becomes shallower 
towards the north dropping to forty feet near White Rock, and opening 
out into the flat Red valley a little further north. The uniform high 
valley wall is maintained except on the east side at the junction of the 
Mustinka river whose lower valley is but 12 to 20 feet above the lake 
elevation of 977 feet on April 6, 1916. 

A narrow strip of land from a few rods to one half mile wide, extend¬ 
ing around the lake would be submerged by a 9 foot dam placed at the 
north end of the lake. The strip submerged about the south half of the 
lake would be very narrow, but a few rods wide. On the east side of 
the lake much of this land is good, tho narrow except for the flats at 
the mouth of the Mustinka river. Here two or three sections of valuable 
land would be submerged unless protected by dikes. The land submerged 
on the South Dakota side is much less valuable, being rougher or having 
alkaline soil in part. 

Could the proposed dam be safely placed five miles south of White 
Rock, about twelve square miles of fine marsh lands could be reclaimed, 
making valuable farms. However this would cut off that many miles 
of the broader north end of the proposed reservoir, thereby limiting its 
effectiveness. 

By thus cutting off five miles of the reservoir, and, as has been sug¬ 
gested by some, limiting the dam height to about five feet in order to 
save the land at the mouth of the Mustinka, it is feared the protection 
afforded in time of maximum floods will be insufficient. 

For capacity of reservoir, smallness of damage from flowage and low 
cost of construction for benefits produced, the Lake Traverse project 
is one of the most promising in the valley. 

As the level of Lake Traverse ordinarily stands only four feet below 
the continental watershed, separating it from Big Stone Lake, (drained 
by the Minnesota) a competent, 10 foot dam at the north end of the lake 
will make necessary a low barrier dam at the south to prevent overflow. 
Unless the War Department rescinds its recent ruling given at the in¬ 
stance of Minnesota valley citizens, this can not be done. However, it 
is believed by the writer that in the broad interests of the people this 
order would be changed. River improvement in the Minnesota valley 
should make the people safe, and willing to receive water from the north, 



34 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


though it is doubted if in time the people of the Red River valley will 
care to send water south except in very exceptional years. 

Minnesota is fortunate in having several lakes which can be converted 
into reservoirs without great flowage damage. Red Lake, the Ottertail 
lakes and others have large reservoir capacity which can be utilized with 
much less cost than that in the river channels of North Dakota. At the 
same time figures on run-off for large floods, and cubic capacity of the 
possible reservoirs in the two states reveal the fact, as the War Depart¬ 
ment has already shown, that the entire capacity of all the possible res¬ 
ervoirs must be utilized to secure real protection. In spite of their great¬ 
er cost the river channel reservoirs must be had if ample protection is 
secured. 

Drainage Diversion 

Diversion of Lake Traverse.—As cited above Lake Traverse can very 
readily be diverted to the Minnesota-Mississippi drainage system so far 
as the engineering features are concerned. The low divide between the 
lakes is not only but four feet above Lake Traverse but a ravine cuts this 
from Big Stone lake, to within a few rods of Traverse. In years of high 
lake level it is a well known fact that the waters of the two lakes mingle 
over the continental divide. 

Eight feet of excavation for a comparative short distance would throw 
the Traverse outlet to the south, lowering its general level, four feet. 
With a complete reservoir system established in time on the Red River 
tributaries, this may not be necessary. 

Diversion of the Upper Clearwater River.—The writer was asked by 
the Clearwater County Board to inspect the possible drainage and flood 
control features of the county. It was found that the Clearwater river, 
instead of turning north, from a point northeast of Bagley, formerly con¬ 
tinued east, emptying into a tributary of the Little Mississippi northeast 
of Shevilin. This is evidenced by the presence of a large abandoned val¬ 
ley two miles north of Shevlin and connecting the points named. 

The valley is definite and clear-cut, being in places about 40 feet deep 
and steep sided, a well marked ancient drainage channel which was 
abandoned at the close of the glacial period when the melting ice re¬ 
ceded northward, uncovering lower land in the region of the present 
lower Clearwater valley. 

It is believed that this ancient drainage to the Mississippi could read¬ 
ily be restored at not prohibitive cost, by cutting the old channel deeper, 
if it is deemed sufficient benefit would be given to northern Clearwater 
county and the Red River valley by relieving it of the waters of the upper 
Clearwater. This stream is reported to bring down so much water from 
its upper reaches, as to keep the lands of much of northern Clearwater 
county waterlogged until after seeding time. 

Glacial Sheyenne and Lake Souris Outlet 

Another instance of ancient diversion of drainage which has no rela¬ 
tion to the present problem, but which proved very fascinating to a gla¬ 
cial geologist, was found in the survey of the upper Sheyenne. 

It is generally known that at the close of the great ice age in North 
Dakota, when the southwestern edge of the melting glacier rested across 



35 


STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


the state, covering what is now the northern part of the Mouse River 
valley and all of the Sheyenne valley, the water from the rapidly melt¬ 
ing ice formed a large lake in the southern end of the Mouse “loop”. 
This water stood against the ice on the north and east and was forced 
to over flow to the southeast across country to the James River. 

The Great Northern Survey cut-off line crosses the 100-foot gorge of 
the south fork of the Sheyenne just east of Wellsburg. It then continues 
southeast for 15 miles to the James Valley at Bremen, taking advantage 
of a large level riverless valley. This valley is from 15 to 40 feet 
deep and from one-half to one mile wide and must have been eroded by 
a considerable river, yet it now possesses ho permanent stream. It con¬ 
tains undrained pools, stratified river wash and other marks of its 
former occupation, and is a section of the valley formerly carrying the 
icy stream from Lake Souris, across the upper Sheyenne valley to the 
James River. Later, when the ice melted away from the Sheyenne Val¬ 
ley, its lower level took the water, causing this old channel to be aban¬ 
doned. 



Flood scene in Fargo 1897 











River boats on Red River at Grand Forks, N. D 




















































































































































































































































STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


V 


TYPES OF DAMS RECOMMENDED 
Puddled Clay Earthen Dam 

It is believed the cost of dam building in North Dakota valleys can be 
met and surmounted by adopting the economically constructed earthen 
dams. It has been cited that five great earthen dams will soon protect 
the populous Miami, Ohio, valley. 

It is hoped that abundance of earth of the right composition can be 
found near the reservoir sites with which to build dams. As in the case 
of the Dayton and other projects, thorough analysis and study of the ma¬ 
terials must be made. To this end is recommended in another place 
ample provisions be made. 

Being constructed of gravel, sand and clay from nearby deposits, the 
costly importation of much expensive construction material is avoided. 
Except in controlling works little concrete is required. 

While made of earth this type of dam is recognized as even stronger 
than other types. It must be gotten out of the layman’s mind that these 
dams are simply great masses of dirt roughly dumped in any fashion by 
scrapers in the manner of fill and road work. They are scientifically 
constructed upon definite engineering principles not familiar to the lay¬ 
man. 

Principle of the Puddle-Core Dam. —There are different types of earth¬ 
en dams. In one type the earth is built into the dam in thin, well tamped 
wet layers. 

But in the wonderfully efficient “hydraulic puddle-core” dam, a deep 
trench is dug from 4 to 20 feet wide across the valley at the dam site, 
extending downward and into the valley sides to solid impervious founda¬ 
tion. This is filled with impervious puddled clay to insure preventing of 
water, (under the great pressure of the reservoir above,) from percolating 
under the dam in porous layers and undermining the structure. This core 
wall is usually widened at the ground surface and continued up through 
the center of the dam. 

The great strength of a “puddled clay” dam rests in part in the great 
mass of its body and in part to the peculiar arrangement of the assorted 
material composing it. 

In constructing the hydraulic type of dam all top soil, muck and loose 
material is removed from the broad surface of the dam site. The trench 
for the “cut-off” wall is then dug and filled. 

Ridges of coarser material are thrown up on the up and down 
stream edges of the dam site. Earth is washed in under strong hy¬ 
draulic force from nearby high land if it contains gravel, sand and about 
20 per cent of" clay, in the right proportion to enter into a strong struc¬ 
ture. Otherwise the earth is brought by drag-line dredges, cars or other 
means and poured into a “sumpt’ where it is given the right proportion 
of water. 




U&39 'AJ°i 
831in 9 


AVMQVOd SZ 


831109 
H818 Id 01- 


these structures are stronger. 


















STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


39 


From this basin it is pumped or flushed out to the prepared dam site, 
entering along the edges. Use is made of the principle of water assort¬ 
ment of particles in proportion to their size. 

As the earth is flushed in on the toe margins, the stone and coarse 
gravel drop on the edge, the fine gravel is carried further towards the 
center of the pool, the sand still further and the silt and clay float into 
the center, there to slowly settle into the dense core, having the charac¬ 
teristic imperviousness of that material deposited under such conditions. 
As the clay settles the water is constantly drained away from the center 
and if the supply is scant, must be used over and over again. A temp¬ 
orary dam is at times constructed to insure a supply. In order not to 
have any large part of the structure permeated with water which can¬ 
not quickly drain away, the clay core deposit is usually placed nearest 
the up stream side of the dam. In fact some dams have the earth chiefly 
flushed in from the down-stream side, which throws the puddled core 
quite near th'e up stream surface. In some cases the up-stream slope is 
of puddled or other impervious lining. This precaution is taken on the 
principle that earth saturated by permeating waters, is bouyed up to the 
extent of the waters weight and thereby rendered weaker as dam forming 
material. Usually some coarse material also composes the up-stream side 
of the dam. 

In general, this process of hydraulic flushing places the porous heavier 
stone and gravel, which stand up together, on the outside to give stability 
to the structure. The finer material of less weight and great impervious 
property is in the core portion of the wall where it is held up to pre¬ 
vent percolation. 

In actual practice it is found well to use a certain proportion of all 
sizes of material in the core, thus adding weight without loss of impervi¬ 
ousness. Gravel and sand would not hold water but so long as the pore 
spaces between gravel stones are filled with sand and the spaces between 
sand grains are filled with silt and clay the mass is as impervious as 
clay, and has the important advantage cited of having superior weight, 
a thing of vital importance. 

Size of Earthen Dams.—To give stability to hold its weight of water the 
earthen dam is given enormous size. The base width naturally depends 
upon the height of dam, being very great in high dams, one hundred or 
more feet in height. The slope is gentle, at the base, being one to ten,— 
one foot of rise to ten feet of width. This slope becomes steeper towards 
the top of the dam, being one to two. The slope is separated into reaches 
of a definite gradient by level benches, or berms about 10 feet wide. 

Gutters on the berms drain the water to the side, preventing wash on 
the face of the dam. The faces of the dam are planted to grass and the 
lower slopes riprapped with stone saved from the excavations to prevent 
wave action. 

The tops of dams will be 20 to 25 feet wide and serve as roadways on a 
high line bridge. 

Spillways of Concrete. —Conduits, spillways and other controlling works 
are of course constructed of massive concrete, with smooth, friction-free 
surfaces. 



40 


REPORT OP FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


Two Kinds of Revervoirs.—Reservoirs are of different types and may 
be considered as (1) Detention and (2) Permanent. 

The Detention dams have solid wall pierced by an open culvert whose 
size is gauged to constantly discharge such an amount of water as will 
readily be accommodated by the smallest part of the river channel down 
stream without causing damage. Clearly no water remains in the reser¬ 
voir, and in fact no water collects until the volume of the torrent passing 
the dam exceeds the capacity of its open culvert or conduit. Then it will 
back up for a while until the freshet passes and the discharge exceeds the 
oncoming flood. 

The five big dams, ranging from 65 to 124 1-2 feet in height in the 
Miami, Ohio, valley are of this type. No use can be made of the water 
for any purpose. 

Permanent Darns.—In the Red River valley where the flood waters 
must be held back for from several days to several weeks in the higher 
counties, to await the drainage of the level central valley, the dams must 
be of permanent or semi-permanent character. They must be of solid 
wall to hold back the water for a definite length of time. They must be 
provided with spillways, gates, etc., so that excess waters may pass, and 
for use in voiding the water preparatory to receiving the next flood. 

In streams having only a spring rise this water may safely be held 
until late winter, to be used through the season as desired, for municipal 
use, boating and resort purposes, ice cutting, irrigation, power and many 
other purposes, where the supply is ample. Where possible the reservoir 
should be of sufficient size to allow holding a residue of water to carry 
through the entire season any dependent cities. / 




STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


41 


FLOODS OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY 

By Herbert A. Hard 

Source of the Red River 

The source of the Red River of the North is variously given as being in 
Lake Traverse at the head of the Bois de Sioux slough; in the lakes at 
the head of the Ottertail river in Minnesota, etc. The writer elects 
to pass by these arbitrary choices, and as a consistent citizen of 
the State of North Dakota assigns, with as much reason perhaps, 
the Sheyenne river as being the master stream, with headwaters of the 
Red River in Sheyenne and Buffalo lakes, in Sheridan and Pierce coun¬ 
ties, North Dakota. This choice has at least this much to be said in its 
own favor that it adds over 100 miles to the length of the master stream. 
The name Red is now only applied for 290 miles, or from its Lake Winni¬ 
peg outlet to Wahpeton, where it branches to form the Bois de Sioux and 
Ottertail rivers. The Bois slough extends but 23 miles to Lake Traverse 
and the longer Ottertail wanders, for about 125 miles threading the lakes 
of Minnesota. 

The Sheyenne leaves the Red River about 50 miles north of the point 
where it receives the Ottertail, but meanders through North Dakota for 
nearly 300 miles giving it a length of over 100 miles in excess of that of 
the Ottertail. 

While the average flow of the Ottertail exceeds that of the Sheyenne, 
being 330 second feet as against 220 for the Sheyenne, its maximum rec¬ 
ord flow is less than that of the Sheyenne, being 1020 second feet, as 
against 1950 for the Sheyenne. 

Area of the Red River Valley 

The Red River Valley comprises about 100,000 square miles, of which 
about 35,000 square miles are in the United States. South of Grand Forks 
the Minnesota side of the valley is wider, but from that point north the 
west side becomes rapidly wider, so that four-fifths of the whole valley 
is on that side. 

As about 55 per cent of the Red Valley in the United States is in North 
Dakota, there are about 12 million acres in that state. 

About 10 million acres in the valley in North Dakota and Minnesota 
will be benefitted by a sound, constructive flood control program. 

Origin of the Level Red River Floor 

The origin of the valley is a most fascinating story, of which much has 
been written. Vastly more is to be discovered, as the geologist has only 
started to dig out its history by closer scrutiny of the various' formations 
and deposits, which have been constantly under the eye of all from the 
time of the earliest settler. One of the most recent and up-to-date works 






/ 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 








Red River at flood stage at Grand Forks, N.Dak. 

on Lake Agassiz, which once occupied the Red Valley, is a short chapter by 
Frank Leverett, U. S. Geologist, published in the 6th biennial report of 
the North Dakota State Soil and Geological Survey by the writer. 

This 375 page volume may be had for 25c to cover packing and post¬ 
age, by addressing Herbert A. Hard, Fargo, N. Dak. 

A more extended account has appeared in a recent paper by the same 
writer in the proceedings of the North Dakota Academy of Science. 

Earlier accounts of greater length are: Warren Upham’s Monograph 
on Lake Agassiz, published by the U. S. Geological Survey; and the “Story 
of the Prairies,” by Daniel Willard. 

The flat level undrained floor of the Red Valley was not always there. 
In ancient time a deeper well drained valley was carved by stream ac¬ 
tion. In the glacial period this was buried deep beneath several thous¬ 
and feet of ice which also carried and deposited thick layers of earth 
and rock to level off the valley surface. As this glacier later melted 
back down the valley to the north, the ice water stood between it and 
the water shed to the north, spilling over the divide in a great outlet which 
it maintained from Lake Traverse into Big Stone Lake, and out into the 
Minnesota Valley. Lake Agassiz was about 700 miles long and 200 to 300 
miles wide in its widest part at the north. 

As the ice melted away at the north some 8000 to 10000 years ago, this 
lake or great inland sea was drained away. But before this it had stood 
for many centuries subject to wave, current and tidal action of the great 
water body. 

Rivers drained into it from the east and the west, carrying in their 
load of soil and waste to be deposited and further level off the then sea 

















STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


43 


or lake floor. The coarser material was, as usual in all water deposits, 
dropper near the shore. This is well illustrated in the highest beach, 
the Herman of Lake Agassiz at, and extending north and south of Musko- 
da, Minn., and Magnolia, N. Dak., on the main line of the Northern Pa¬ 
cific R. R. From these points the beach gravel and large off-shore sand 
bars diverge to the north to surround the Canadian portion of the lake 
and converge to the south to nearly meet at White Rock, S. Dak., where 
the lake found outlet into the Minnesota river through Lake Traverse and 
Big Stone. 

The finer silt and clay floated out to slowly settle in the central part 
of the lake, making its floor monotonously level and adding the vast 
modern problem of drainage and flood control. This also accounts for 
the origin of the heavy, fertile clay soil of the Red Valley, famous for its 
production of wheat. 

No Trunk Drainage 

While this great fresh-water sea disappeared, possibly, 10,000 years 

« 

ago, this is but a short space as geological time records its slow pro¬ 
cesses, and the Red, Sheyenne and other tributaries have not been at work 
long enough, with the moderate regional rainfall, to carve out deep chan 
nels on the lake floor. In fact the real trouble in the valley is due to 
the fact that there is no deep trunk sewer, or drainage channel to drain 
the land. Especially, is this troublesome when the small crooked chan¬ 
nels are gorged with water from the higher land of the headwaters. 

/ 

Altitudes 

This condition is well brought out in consulting altitudes. The low- 
water level at Wahpeton is about 943 feet above sea level; at Fargo, 870 
feet; Grand Forks, 787 feet; at Pembina, 751 feet; at Winnipeg, 727 feet; 
at Lake Winnipeg, 710 feet. The channel depth at Wahpeton is about 15 
feet. This increases between Fargo and Pembina to 35 to 50 feet. 

Gradient 

The air line distance from Wahpeton to Pembina is about 190 miles and 
the altitudes above show a difference of 192 feet. Though the gentle 
slope of the Red Valley to the north is about one foot to the mile on the 
average, the river meanders so widely as to travel over two times the air¬ 
line distance and the grade is but 0.46 feet per mile. 

Wahpeton is about 290 miles from Lake Winnipeg, and the difference 
in altitude is about 233 feet. 

The general slope of the Lake Agassiz floor toward the Red river in 
its middle is steeper, yet is usually but two to five feet per mile. Thus, 
the central Red Valley is a broad flat platter shaped basin with uniform 

slope to the center and to the north. 

Just outside the flat portion of the valley the rivers have steeper grades 
and have carved deeper channels even with a scant run-off. However the 
upper reaches drain rolling prairies, wooded in the Minnesota lake region 
and grassy on the Dakota side, where the fall is not great. 

The shallow channel of the Red varies from only a few hundred to one 
thousand feet in width. The river at the bottom of this channel is ordi- 




44 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


narily one to two hundred feet wide and one to twelve feet deep. Its 
velocity is but one to one and one-half miles per hour. 

Owing to the immaturity of the river system and its frequent overflow, 
the slope of the land is usually away from the bank of the Red and its 
tributaries. Once the river has overflowed, the muddy silt laden water 
in the channel has met the stagnant water on either side and laid its de¬ 
posit on the banks. Thus the land often slopes away from the river for 
3 to 6 miles. 

How Flooding Causes Alkali 

This produces large areas of undrained land which have alternately 
been flooded and the water evaporated. The water sinks down, dissolves 
out the salts from the sub-soil, comes to the surface and evaporates, 
leaving the salts as an alkaline crust on the surface . 

One of the greatest losses from floods in the Red Valley is due to this 
damage, by souring and embittering of water-logged lands. Not only is 
the crop lost for from one to three years, but the soil itself is seriously 
damaged, permanently so in cases where thorough drainage is impossi¬ 
ble. This has happened in Richland, Cass, Sargent and many other 
counties. 

The extensive tracks of so-called “gumbo” lands in Grand Forks coun¬ 
ty, along the Great Northern Railway, have resulted from water-logging 
and evaporation. Thorough drainage for several years is the only cure. 

Rain Fall and Run-off 

The average annual rainfall in the central Red Valley is 22 inches 
while that of the highlands to the west is but 14 inches. This gives an 
average yearly run-off of less than one inch, and the streams do very 
little erosion except in the short flood periods. The higher precipitation 
of Minnesota gives a run-off of 3 to 4 inches. 

While river run-off gauging stations have been established by the U. S. 
Geological Survey and measurements taken for many years on the Red 
River, 36 years at Frand Forks and 16 years at Fargo, and on the lower 
Pembina, practically no records have been taken on the other Dakota 
tributaries. This unfortunate lack has been and is a serious handicap 
in getting at the problem of flood control. To get at accurate reser¬ 
voir requirements for each stream we should have had careful gauging 
thru the last ten years or more. So far, we have been forced to rely 
upon rough measurements and flood height figures from various local 
sources. As necessity is the mother of invention, it may be said that 
the commission has been exceptionally fortunate in discovering usable 
figures in this connection. 

It is urged that immediate measures be taken on the part of the state 
to secure the founding of permanent gauging stations in cooperation with 
the Department of Interior. To prepare the way for this, the writer 
has taken this matter up with the U. S. Water Resources Division and 
has assurance that it will meet the state on a fair basis of cooperation. 




STATE 

OF NORTH 

DAKOTA 


45 

Table of Drainage Areas, Flow and Run of Rivers 

• 

Drainage 

area. 

Square 

miles 

Mean 

Annual 

run-off in 

inches 

Average 

Flow in 

second 

feet 

Max. 

Record 

Ottertail . 

2,080 

3.6 


330 

1,020 

Bois de Sioux . 

1,740 





Wild Rice (of N. Dak.). 

1,400 



190 

9,200 

Wild Rice (of Minn.) . 

1,440 

3.2 




Sheyenne ... 

7,000 

0.5 


220 

1,950 

Buffalo . 

1,400 





Goose . 

1,450 





Red Lake River . 

5,760 

3.3 


1,300 

14,400 

Snake .... 

1,040 





Park River . 

1,010 





Two Rivers . 

1,020 





Pembina .. 

3,700 

0.8 


180 

3,870 

Roseau . 

1,990 

1.6 




Rat . 

1,000 





Assiniboine . 

8,800 



190 

12,000 

Red (above Grand Forks).. 

25,000 

1.5 


2,800 

43,000 


Early Floods of the Red River Talley 

Floods have come at intervals in the Red River Valley since its earliest 
history has been recorded. Some students have tried to see their recur¬ 
rence in eleven year periods. Interesting facts about early floods were 
recounted to the writer in his travels over the valley. 

Fur traders and settlers report the earliest floods. In Pembina coun¬ 
ty, Charles Cavalier reports a high flood in 1828, and another in 1852, 
which he experienced, was reported as higher, standing five feet deep 
over the valley for five weeks. 

William H. Moorhead recounts the flood of 1861 as five feet higher 
than that of 1882. 

Above facts are stated in the most interesting “The Long Ago” a book 
on early Pembina history by Charles E. Lee of Walhalla, N. Dak. 

The 1882 and 1897 floods were recounted to the writer by F. A. Ward- 
well and G. G. Thompson, early Pembina pioneers. At Bowesmont the 
Red was stated as being 15 miles wide in both these great floods. At 
Pembina the water extended about one mile back from the river channel. 

Forty feet is the elevation of the Pembina bridge and of the ground 
floor level of the houses in the town. This was the height of the flood 
of 1897. That of 1882 was 18 inches lower. The 1915 flood of Fargo 
did not reach Pembina. Other years of high water reported in the valley 
are 1883; 1893; 1904; 1906; 1907; 1916. 

The early floods caused more or less inconvenience and loss to set¬ 
tlers, adding to their hardships; those of more modern times have cost 
the farmers and indirectly the business men at least one hundred million 
dollars. 

























46 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


For thirty years, agitation, conventions and surveys for flood control 
have been lavishly, but spasmodically indulged in. State, Tri-State, and 
International Associations, and Leagues have been variously organized. 
The first annual convention of the N. D., Drainage League was held Jan. 
10-11, 1906 in Grand Forks. At that time the annual loss on fifty cent 
wheat, due to lack of drainage, was carefully figured by one speaker 
at one million dollars in the years 1891 to 1905. The loss for 1905 was 
put at four millions. 

At this convention an International Conference was arranged and an¬ 
nounced to meet in Grand Forks, Feb. 27-28. On this date, delegates 
from the Dakotas, Minnesota, and Manitoba, were assembled. In an ad¬ 
dress at this time, Senator J. L. Cashel, president of the N. D. League, 
estimated the flood loss of 1897 at seven millions of dollars. 

The proceedings of the convention and of the International Conference 
w r ere published in a pretentious volume of 90 pages, much prized copy of 
which is in the writer’s possession. 

Causes of Floods in the Red River Yalley 

Many factors contribute to cause floods in the Red River Valley. These 
factors are simple in themselves, but their action may be complicated 
and if simultaneous in the same direction may cause maximum damage. 
If not concurrent they may prevent flood occurrence with even a maxi¬ 
mum annual run-off. 

The low gradient of shallow crooked river channel, meandering, over 
a flat prairie has been noted. Again, the Red River flows in a northerly 
direction and the spring thaw often starts in several weeks earlier at its 
southern headwaters about Lake Traverse than it does 300 miles north 
where ice-bound at Winnipeg. The ice prevents free discharge of waters 
and tends to conjest the waters for a simultaneous exit. 

A warm wave with high temperatures prevalent over the whole valley 
brings the threat of maximum floods in any season of large snow fall. 
The spring thaw of 1916 sent the waters of the Lake Traverse water-shed 
out very quickly and only a temporarily and timely drop in temperature, 
to below freezing point about Red Lake held its waters from being added 
to make a most disastrous flood from Grand Forks north. While the 
upper valley suffered greatly, the freshet was doled out through the 
deeper, channel to the north without great damage. 

A southward flowing stream in this hemisphere has its lower valley 
reaches successfully, cleared of ice and snow as spring advances. In 
case of a northward flowing stream in a valley of no great altitude dif¬ 
ferences, such as that of the Red, there is a cumulative effect in which 
the flood from each tributary is successfully added to that v of the main 
channel about the time its own crest is at the peak. Any condition of 
differences of temperature, of rainfall, of drainage, etc., which tends to 
alternate the discharge from different water sheds lessens flood danger. 

As stated, the Red River system, especially, its central and eastern 
portions is very immature in that it has not yet carved out competent 
channels. Much water stands in undrained “gumbo” areas in the central 
valley and in the Minnesota marshes until it slowly filters out or evap¬ 
orates. Millions of dollars have been spent and millions more will soon 



STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


47 


be added in digging ditches and great canals to drain enormous tracts. 
Water is delivered from these to the Red channel within a few hours 
which formerly took weeks or months if it ever actually drained away. 
Thus, relief of the Mustinka River marshes is alleged in the Tri-State 
drainage suit as the cause of the damages further down stream. Channel 
improvement and further extensive ditching down stream will transfer 
much of the trouble from Richland to Cass county, and further improve¬ 
ment in Cass will successively pass the troubles oil to the north and 
finally on to Canada. Thus, flood control becomes an international prob¬ 
lem and the spirit of co-operation manifested by the Canadian officials 
to those of North Dakota, is gratifying in that it portends a solution. 

Blocking of river channels by ice and consequently flood danger is in¬ 
tensified by the fact that these channels are usually obstructed by brush 
and shaded by vegetation, preventing the early spring melting of snow 

and ice. 

It is obvious that the amount of run-off from a given thaw and spring 
rain will be largely determined by the condition of the soil and the 
height of the water table or ground water level, at that particular time. 
Naturally, if the ground is frozen or is already full of water when the 
thaw or rain comes much of the surface water will quickly run off as 
flood water, while, if the soil pore space is empty, it will act as a sponge 
and absorb a vast amount of w T ater relieving flood possibilities. 

Tile Drainage 

Within a few years tile drainage in the Red River Valley will be car¬ 
ried to an enormous scale. Tile with the extensive system of open ditch¬ 
es into which they will be drained will materially lower the water table 
so that the soil will absorb enough water to relieve the lands from all 
moderate sized floods which might originate from the water falling with¬ 
in the areas drained. The soil, itself will be drained, to the point that 
it will constitute a vast reservoir by the time the next flood shall come. 
At the same time it must be kept in mind that while competent drainage 
relieves the land drained it hastens the water out to menace lands fur¬ 
ther down stream. Ditches are being added at an enormous rate. Many 
millions are being rapidly invested in both Minnesota and North Dakota. 
$250,000 were spent in ditches in 1918 in Cass county alone. One Sar¬ 
gent county canal cost over $300,000. Increased drainage aggravates 
flood conditions. Only reservoir systems can equalize run-off to prevent 
floods. This leads to consideration of the dual origin of floods in the 
Red Valley. 

Two Kinds of Floods 

Ordinarily, even the narrow crooked little river channels found on the 
flat valley land are able to carry away the rain and snow which falls on 
that flat land. Local rains cause waterlogging on undrained land, but 
with any system of drainage this water is easily handled by the rivers. 
In fact the disastrous floods often occur after the local rains have been 
drained away. At times seeding is well under way when the so-called 
“second flood” rises out of the Sheyenne or other channels and spreads 
out over the dry land driving the farmers from the field. Late seeding 



48 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


delays the crop until rust strikes it before it is matured. This “second 
flood” comes many days later, and has its origin in the higher counties 
located outside the flat valley, which are drained into it by river, 
draws and sloughs. 

It is this “second flood” which causes most of the damage in the Pem¬ 
bina, Sheyenne, Wild Rice sections of the Red Valley. In case of the 
Sheyenne, water comes from the central part of the state, even as far 
back as Pierce and Sheridan counties. The Pembina drains lands in Cav¬ 
alier county and far into Canada. The Wild Rice rises in Sargent county. 
All these high counties have low rainfall and therefore, have serious 
need to conserve this very water which quickly escapes them in the 
spring, only to curse the flat Red Valley by flooding or by gorging its 
narrow channels and prevent them from draining the adjacent lands. 
The water then slips out to the ocean doing no good whatsoever, while 
the high counties where it fell and was needed for many purposes, suf¬ 
fer crop failure from very deficiency of moisture. 

The system of dams recommended for the Minnesota lakes and the 
North Dakota river gorges in the high counties can prevent this wanton 
loss. 

Much has been made by certain engineers of the fact that the average 
annual rainfall and run-off in the Dakotas are small figures. On a little 
thought it is seen that these facts are irrevalent; absolutely beside the 
question. We are not concerned with the “average annual,” when the 
years of “maximum” or exceptional floods come to lay waste to hundreds 
of thousands of acres and gorge city basements with sewage from back¬ 
water! 

No one has thot to protect against this harmless “average annual!” It 
is the exceptional run-off, as of 1915, 1916 and 1917 that must be guarded 
against. It is idle to state that the North Dakota tributaries did not 
contribute enormously to the disaster. It is positively vicious to deny 
the facts attested by thousands of suffering Dakota farmers and by local 
records. 

True, more than half of the Red’s flood water ordinarily comes from 
Minnesota. Yet, as already shown, certain years more comes from the 
Dakota side. Further, the War Department estimates on run-off and res¬ 
ervoir capaciites concur in showing that, fine as are dam facilities in 
Minnesota, these lake reservoirs alone, will be unable to stop floods in 
the Red Valley. They are able to take care of the larger Minnesota pre¬ 
cipitation, but the estimates show that floods will not be stopped in the 
valley unless the Sheyenne, Wild Rice and Pembina also are eliminated. 
Hence, the necessity of adequate reservoir construction in the gorges 
of these rivers. The War Deparement finds that it will require the 
maximum capacities of all possible reservoirs within the watershed. 




STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


49 


WATER POWER 

EARLY MILL DAMS ON THE SHEYENNE 

A good idea of the relation of the Sheyenne river channel to the val¬ 
ley proper, in whose bottom it is found from Lisbon westward, may be got 
from a glance at the accompanying cut of a cross section of the valley. 
It is seen that the river occupies a narrow channel 10 to 25 feet deep 
which in turn is at the bottom of a steep-sided gorge which varies in 
depth from 350 feet in southern Barnes County to 70 feet in northwestern 
Wells County. 

The gorge varies in width from ^4 mile to two miles, while the chan¬ 
nel varies from a few feet at the upper end to 100 to 200 feet where it 
leaves the gorge near Lisbon. 

It is the gorge across which dams must be placed for flood control 
while it is the little channel at the bottom which has been dammed for 
power. None of these dams cause the valley to be flooded. 

With the more extended use of the “tunnel dam”, some power may 
be derived for a part of the year from the water stored in the contemplat¬ 
ed large control reservoirs without too great initial instillation cost. 
In fact, due consideration of this should not be overlooked in the final 
choice of plans for the major dams, so that proper utilization can be 
effected if it should later appear feasible. 

In the last 25 years, small water power dams have been constructed 
from time to time across this lower channel of the Sheyenne River, 
all the way from the north line of Griggs County, south of Ft. Ransom 
and thence eastward to Kindred. A dozen or more sites have been used, 
two or more dams having been successively erected at several sites as 
the frail structures were washed out by floods. 

The most northerly dam site of which the writer has been able to 
learn is that of the old Lee mill on the north line of Griggs county 
These dams have ranged from 6 to 15 feet in height and have been 
used since early days for local grist mills. The power thus derived was 
a great boon in the days of scarce fuel. 

Tho their remains are still to be seen at intervals along the stream, 
most of them were cruedly constructed of brush and stones and were 
soon washed out. Several examples of these are seen in the accompany¬ 
ing illustrations as well as the modern substantial type. At Ft. Ran¬ 
som last summer, the Walker dam, one of the temporary type, was wash¬ 
ed out by a freshet caused by a local cloud-burst. In late years a few 
better constructed dams have furnished power for modern flour mills. 
Of this type there still remains the eleven foot dam at Valley City own¬ 
ed by the Russel-Miller Milling Co., and the 14 foot concrete dam at 
Lisbon, owned by the Bemmels Milling Co., shown in cuts. 

The Valley City dam is 11 feet high and from it is generated about 75 
horsepower for about five months each year. This is used for lighting 
and general purposes about the mill. The reservoir above the dam also 





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STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


supplies the city of Valley City with its water, thereby limiting its use¬ 
fulness as a power producer. When the water begins to run short the 
mill must cease using it for power. 

LISBON MILL DAM 

The most effective use of water power in North Dakota is found at the 
* Bemm els Milling Company dam at Lisbon. Here, an up-to-date flour mill 
operates on water power alone for about five months in the year, 
or from the time the spring thaw starts to the middle of August, and 
intermittently for some time after. From 200 to 300 horsepower are 
regularly developed as a cheap power supply. Auxiliary steam engines 
are later brot into use for the remainder of the year. 



A. G. Bemmels Milling company mill and Sheyenne river, Lisbon, N. D. A 
successful business institution, operated with 14-foot dam and 200 horse¬ 
power (water power) about six months per year and auxiliary engine the 
remainder. The reservoir and its seven-mile sheet of water makes possible 
the beautiful Idlewild park, accessible by launches from Lisbon. 

Early dams at this site were unsubstantially made of logs, stone, 
brush, and earth, and were finally all washed out in spring floods. 
The present dam was built in 1916 and is substantially made of piles, 
logs, boulders and concrete. Its cost was only about $7000.00. 

The dam proper is 14 feet high and 106 feet long while side wings add 
ten feet more. It ponds the water up-stream for about seven miles, 
making a beautiful tortuous, meandering lake of slack water, overgrown 
with beautiful timber, brush, and foliage and which connects Lisbon 
with Idlewild Park, one of the prettiest little resort parks in the state. 
In the summer season, regular launch service is maintained between the 
city and park by two boats, making an ideal outing trip. There are 

























































































































52 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


fine sites and facilities for cottage and lodge building and doubtless this 
will become one of the popular resort places in the state. 

At the mill, an inlet four feet square serves a wheel 54 inches in 
diameter. The mill has a 400 barrel output and a storage capacity of 
70,000 bushels. 

The Lisbon mill and dam prove in a conclusive way what energetic 
business activity, guided by a little imagination, can accomplish by using 
the run-off from a flashy stream in a country of light rainfall. 

The field work of 1917 determined the fact that the channel shape 
and the fall from Valley City down the Sheyenne to Kindred will readily 
permit of the construction of six or seven dams of the general dimensions 
of that at Lisbon. Those furthest up-stream could be made from 10 
to 12 feet high while those from Ft. Ransom east may range from 12 
to 20 feet high. As an example, a dam can be constructed about 5 miles 
southeast of Lisbon which would give an 18 foot head. 

It must be clearly bourne in mind that these small and cheaply con* 
structed power dams have nothing to do with the great problem of flood 
control in the valley. Their combined reservoir capacity is almost a 
negligible factor in holding back great floods. They have only been 
brot to the attention of the public as a minor problem in connection with 
the great work and as a likely point of local interest. It is admitted 
that the power to be derived is small. At the same time, the practical 
example of the Lisbon mill, taken with the careful levels taken in 
Barnes, Ransom, and Richland counties prove conclusively that at least 
six little dams can be cheaply constructed by abuting property owners 
to develop 200 to 300 horsepower each for about five months per year. 
$25,000 annually would be a conservative estimate of the value of this 
power. With large flood controlling reservoirs built further upstream, 
evenly doling out the seasons run-off, the period of usefulness of these 
small dams would be extended one to three months longer so that power 
could be used the greater part of the frost-free season. 

In the first place the very existence of the power has been denied in 
certain quarters. Then, it has been alleged that, even if it did exist, con¬ 
trary to their experience, it would be impractical to use it as it would 
cost too much to install auxiliary steam power for the remainder of the 
year. In reply it may be stated that even if cost of labor, material and 
machinery did not disaprove this in the case of these small units, the 
practical experience of successful mills ought to satisfy the most skep¬ 
tical, once he learns the facts. 

OTHER SITES 

Numerous other sites for small dams are to be found all along the 
channel. Some of these have been utilized, as at Kindred, Wickstrom’s 
Billing’s, (Coltons), Wisner, (shown in cut), Ft. Ransom, Kathryn, Dai¬ 
ley’s Marsh's and Lee’s. 

Numerous levels and measurements were taken along the entire course 
of the Sheyenne and other rivers. Abundance of sand, gravel, boulders, 
etc., were found all along the valley which would readily work into 
dam construction. 



STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


53 



—Photo by Hard. 

Marsh’s mill dam site on Sheyenne river, six miles south of Valley 
City. The channel all along here will permit 18 to 20 foot dams. March’s 
was one of the earliest of old fashioned grist mills, of which there have 
been 10 or 12 on the Sheyenne. 





—Photo by Hard. 

Sheyenne river near Katheryn, N. D., old ten foot dam and high 
bluff of valley over 350 feet above river. This* is an example of both 
kinds of dam sites, the small and the high. Here a little 18 to 20-foot 
power dam can be built, or a little further up or down stream the narrow 
valley would afford actual storage reservoirs were it not for the valuable 
lands flooded. 


















































































































54 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


FT. RANSOM DAM AND MILL 

When the writer was working out from Ft. Ransom in 1917, Mr. Wal¬ 
ker was operating a feed and grist mill with an eleven foot dam across 
the Sheyenne channel. At its top, the channel here is 170 feet wide 
The dam was about 80 feet long and like all the other small dams could 
have been built higher. It produces backwater for about seven miles up¬ 
stream. Mr. Walker came to Ft. Ransom in 1881 and has operated a 
mill much of the time until his dam went out in the summer of 1918. 

Mr. Walker reports that occasionally in the spring “8 feet of water 
run over my dam”. Yet some men, even in the Red River valley, who 
have never known the conditions outside their town or township have 
assured the writer “that there is never enough water in the whole 
Sheyenne to fill a single control reservoir”! 

Mr. Walkers account has been multiplicated by many substantial 
residents along the river both in the gorge and out on the flat valley 
where farmers have repeatedly been driven out of dry fields at seed¬ 
ing time when the water, coming from the high counties, rose up out 
of the river and spread over the land. Similar indisputable testimony 
comes from Senator Welford and farmers along the Pembina, Mr. Rob¬ 
bie and many others along the Tongue River in Pembina county, and 
men along the Wild Rice and most other streams. 

Some mischievously misinformed individuals deny both this existence 
of above cited power and even the fact of past valley flooding and would 
refuse the farmer relief from the recurring loss of millions of dollars. 

DAILEY DAM AND MILL 

Much of the Sheyenne channel from Ft. Ransom to north of Kathryn 
is also 18 to 22 feet deep, affording several good dam sites. Pictures are 
shown of the abandoned dam at Kathryn, at Dailey and at Marshes. 

At Dailey, a 13-foot dam substantially constructed of matched and dress¬ 
ed granite boulders, is still to be seen. The channel would have per¬ 
mitted an 18 to 20 foot dam. Mr. Walker, the owner, brother of the 
Ft. Ransom miller, generated “several hundred hoYse power at this 
point.” Mr. Walker had “seen four feet of water running over this 
dam. The mill as well as the dam was substantially constructed for an 
efficient plant. A fire of incendiary origin completely wiped out this 
plant and unfortunately the criminal was never punished. Mr. Walker 
removed to Kathryn where he operates a mill with steam power where 
insurance hazard is not so great. 

WALHALLA DAMS AND MILLS 

Perhaps there was something prophetic in the act of Father Bellcourt, 
when in 1845 he built at the foot of the beautiful Pembina mountains at 
Walhalla the first power dam west of St. Paul. True, as Editor Lee of the 
Mountainer has said in his valuable little book, “The Long Ago,” of Da¬ 
kota. “It was but a crude affair. One course of stone and an undershot 
wheel did the work formerly done by the Indian women in mortars with 
stone pestles.” A little mill was built to grind the wheat, corn and oats 
for his flock. Bellcourt’s insight and initiative turned a little of the 






During the spring run, electricity is furnished to Grand Forks. With 
dam and controlling works at Red Lake the higher Minnesota runoff will 
be regulated to give far greater efficiency at the several dam sites down 
stream. 










The little Pembina River has become the big Pembina with the Spring freshet. Channel at Wal- 
halla, N. D. This flood keeps the lower Pembina bank full and even flooding the level Red Valley for 
from’a few days to a few weeks during seeding time when the channel should be draining the rich 
lands. Should it be found feasible to reservoir tlhe Pembina, this will be preserved. 









STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


55 



—Photo by Mikkelson. 

Mr. Walker’s 13-foot dam at Dailey, N. D., on the Sheyenne river 
in spring. A practical example of what can be done with small dams. 
An 18-foot dam here will produce several hundred horsepower for half 
the year. Present dam used for milling for many years. 



Walker’s dam at Dailey, three miles north of Kathryn N. Don 
Sheyenne river. It is 13 feet high, but could as well be -0 feet, with 
capacity of 300 horsepower for six months in the year. In spring 1 oods 
lour feet of water runs over the dam. The short race is at right o 
dnm full of water. The mill, whose foundation of granite shows at ex- 
treme right, was burned some few years ago and would have been re¬ 
built but for the circumstances attending the burning. It was an ex- 
ample of a successful small mill. 














































































































































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STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


57 


natural power of the Pembina river to lighten the burden of his people, 
and further the economic development of those rude frontier days. Per¬ 
haps he also vaguely sensed other uses to which the river could be put 
by constructing dams within the narrow, deep gorge, thru which it 
flows for many miles in Canada and across what is now Cavalier county, 
to issue at Walhalla on the broad, flat Lake Agassiz plain. 

Impounding dams, constructed in common with those in other valleys 
tributary to the Red river, built in the terms of the broad plans for 
valley wide reclamation recently approved jointly by the war department, 
the United States department of agriculture, the valley counties, and the 
office of engineer of the North Dakota reclamation commission, will 
terminate the destructive floods in the fertile Red valley. 

The first settlements in the state were along the Pembina river. The 
earliest Hudson bay trappers and first soldiers of fortune in this roman¬ 
tic time give the earliest authentic record of destructive spring floods 
in the Red and Pembina valleys. These occurred at intervals, being 
greatest in 1826, 1852, 1860-1, 1882 and 1897, as well as in more recent 
times, when the valley was flooded to a depth of five feet many miles 
back from the river. 

Other dreamers followed Pere Bellcourt along the Pembina and counted 
its steep walled canyon, valuable for producing water power on a larg¬ 
er scale. In fact one group of men brought in engineers and had a 
survey made, locating the best site for a high dam. As a matter of 
record, estimates were made on a 55 foot dam to be located just above 
the juncture of the Little Pembina with the Pembina, and near the site 
of the now abandoned brick kiln. 

Others ridiculed the plan, and for want of ready funds the project was 
abandoned. Until further careful data are worked out on levels and the 
annual run-off of the river, the writer will not undertake to state the 
exact height of the highest practicable dam, but it is a matter of fact 
that from point of location the site was well chosen. Further, the run¬ 
off is ample to fill not only a dam at this site, but a series of other 
dams up stream. Several ideal sites were located. 

In spite of a few incredulous wise-acres, Mayo’s scheme for a dam on 
the river was not all visionary. The valley shape and the formations 
are competent for reservoir construction. The run-off is truly the limit¬ 
ing factor. However, data from two separate sources prove its adequacy 
for filling a large dam. > This cannot be denied in the face of the volume 
of water passing the government gauging station at Neche and the oft 
duplicated observation of reliable residents. The big spring torrent flows 
for one to two weeks and a small stream continues thru the channel 
all summer, giving volume to develop some power thru half or more of 
the season. 

MAGER’S MILL 

Nor is possible water power all mere speculation from Bellcourt, thru 
Mayo’s time to the present. One of the sturdy pioneers in Walhalla 
who has done much to keep its development abrest the times is J. F. 
Mager. To combat the hardships and privations of the frontier, Mager 



58 


STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 



Plant of Walhalla Mining company (J. F. Mager), operated for many 
years with 12-foot head of water from Pembina river. Ninety horse¬ 
power thru a turbine wheel ground 125 barrels of flour daily for much of 

the year. 



Mager mill dam at Walhalla, N. D. Winter scene, 1907. A 10-foot dam 
made a beautiful lake at the Chatauqua park. 



























































































































REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 


59 


and Emmerling installed a small dam and undershot wheel about 1872. 
This was supplemented by an old thresher engine brought from Winni¬ 
peg for winter use. With this they ground all the wheat—900 bushels— 
that was raised in two years in all that region of Dakota, Minnesota 
and Canada. The population of Walhalla then numbered about 1200, 
largely Indians and halfbreeds, with a few whites. 

In 1876 they raised the dam and rebuilt the mill, installing a large* 
engine and a sawmill whose capacity in 1883 was 158,000 feet. As inter¬ 
estingly told by historian Lee, this mill was repeatedly burned out, 
only to be built on larger scale. In 1885 eight pairs of rollers turned out 
75 barrels of flour per day. Following the fire of 1887 the present three 
story and basement structure was constructed on the north bank of the 
river. An 8 foot dam and race gave a 12 foot head, yielding 90 horse 
power to a large turbine wheel, which turned out 125 barrels of high 
grade flour daily. The power room of the plant, recently burned, has 
not been replaced. 

This little dam, being at Walhalia, was just out of the Pembina “foot¬ 
hills,” and about 5 miles east of the first possible site for high dams, 
which can be placed in the river gorge. 

WALHALLA THE BEAUTIFUL 

The natural scenery about Walhalla makes it one of the most beautiful 
spots in the state and the rebuilding of even a 15 foot dam near the 
Chautauqua grounds, with the consequent lake, would make a resort the 
equal of those of the Minnesota lakes. The increased power would 
more than double the capacity of the Majer mill, or illuminate the town. 

The dams just discussed are comparable with those lesser ones possi¬ 
ble on the Sheyenne river, and would have little effect upon flood control 
for the level Red river valley to the east. As in the case of the Sheyenne, 
higher dams are probably feasible, as cited above, at the juncture of the 
two Pembina rivers, five miles west of Walhalla. From this point north¬ 
west thru Cavalier county, the river gorge is about 200 feet deep and 
very narrow. The bottom is from a few rods to one-third mile wide. 
Its walls, of substantial clay and shale of the Pierre formation, open from 
the river in the form of a V with sides so steep as to make egress im¬ 
possible by direct ascent with wagon. The valley is one-half to one mile 
wide at the top, offering several sites where short dams even 75 feet high 
could be constructed relatively cheaply if the runoff warrants. Material 
for the earthen part of the dams is abundant. 



Old trading post, Walhalla, N. D., 
built in 1843. 





















Appendix 


Another View of New Crookston Power Plant and Dam on Red Lake River 
















STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


(iL 



Inside view of Crookston power plant. There are three 500 k. w. 
generators. The Red Lake river furnishes enough water to operate one 
all of the year to supply city use, and enough to operate the other two in 
spring to supply Grand Forks. Reservoirs, on Red Lake, will equalize 
this flow just as they will on the Sheyenne in North Dakota. 



Maple creek neat Alice, N. D. Typical of Red River tributaries on the 

level Lake Agassiz flood 












62 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 



—Photo by Hard. 

Dam, gate and reservoir on Apple creek, Burleigh county, N. D., 
Property of John Yegen of Bismarck, pioneer irrigator of North Dakota. 
This and accompanying crop of alfalfa, raised by flooding from the 
reservoir in spring, are here shown as an example of what can and 
actually is done by damming an intermittent stream in North Dakota. 
Some of these results, and some others as good, can be had in coun¬ 
ties traversed by the Sheyenne river, once the state and people use 
their resources. 





—Photo 6y Hard. 

First cutting of irrigated alfalfa raised on a quarter section of bottom¬ 
land, flooded once or twice in spring from reservoir shown in accom¬ 
panying cut. Mr. Yegen cuts from four to six tons of hay in two or 
three cuttings. Like results can be had—and will be some day—in the 
Sheyenne valley. 




































































STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA 


63 



New concrete dam on Yegen farm near Bismarck on Apple Creek. 
Mr Yegen uses water from the small creek to irrigate alfalfa, gaiden 
truck, etc., and demonstrates in a very practical manner what may be 
done in a big way by judicious use of North Dakotas small streams. 



Irrigated celery on Yegen farm, Apple Creek near Bismarck. 


N. I>. 


































64 


REPORT OF FLOOD CONTROL ENGINEER 



iionts on Red River at Grand Forks, N. Dak, 























































































































































































































































































“The End” 

















































































































































































































* 


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